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<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rove521</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rov2 will not load 3/22</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see rove 2 and tag gps</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>capt 521</b> (not on e passport hd] html bracing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/karl-rove-gets-thrown-und_b_46501"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/karl-rove-gets-thrown-und_b_46501</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Last night Thelma and Louise drove the bus off the cliff or at least into the White House Correspondents Dinner. The “highlight” of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove. How excited were we to have our first opportunity ever to talk directly to the Bush Administration about global warming<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>We reminded the senior White House advisor that the US leads the world in global warming pollution and we are doing the least about it. Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country</b>.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: 18px;">We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results are in (</span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ipcc.ch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; font-size: 18px;">www.IPCC.ch</a><span style="font-size: 18px;">). Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, <b>Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we</b>. (Since when do we follow China’s lead?)</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: 18px;">At some point during his ramblings, we became heartbroken to think that the President of the United States and his top advisers have partially built a career on global warming not being real. We have been telling college students across the country for the past two weeks that government does not change until people demand it... well, listen up folks, everyone had better get a lot louder because the message clearly is not getting through.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, “Don’t touch me.” How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unfazed, Sheryl abruptly responded, “You can’t speak to us like that, you work for us.” Karl then quipped, “I don’t work for you, I work for the American people.” To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, “We are the American people.”</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: 18px;">At that point Mr. Rove apparently decided he had had enough. Like a groundhog fearful of his own shadow, he scurried to his table in an attempt to hibernate for another year from his responsibility to address global warming. Drama aside, you would expect as an American citizen to be able to engage in a civil discussion with a public official. Instead, Mr. Rove was dismissive, condescending, and quite frankly a bully.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: 18px;">Ultimately, we were left wondering what on Earth Mr. Rove was talking about when he said “the American people.” If more than 60% of American voters, the Supreme Court, over 400 cities, the US National Academy of Sciences, numerous major US corporations, and others don’t constitute the American people, then what does? The truth is, if this administration cared one iota about the American people, they would have addressed this problem long ago, and the sad reality is that this problem has been left to us, all of us, since the current administration has abandoned this issue entirely. In the absence of true leadership, we must guide ourselves. We can solve this, but we had better act fast.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 18px;" /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; font-size: 18px;">www.stopglobalwarming.org</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wiki:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">College Republicans, Watergate, and the Bushes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June 1971, after the end of the semester, Rove dropped out of the University of Utah to take a paid position as the Executive Director of the College Republican National Committee.[27] Joe Abate, who was National Chairman of the College Republicans at the time, became his mentor.[16] Rove then enrolled at the University of Maryland in College Park in the Fall of 1971, but withdrew from classes during the first half of the semester.[28]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove traveled extensively, participating as an instructor at weekend seminars for campus conservatives across the country. He was an active participant in Richard Nixon's 1972 Presidential campaign. A CBS report on the organization of the Nixon campaign from June 1972 includes an interview with a young Rove working for the College Republican National Committee.[29]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove held the position of executive director of the College Republicans until early 1973. He left the job to spend five months, without pay, campaigning full-time for the position of National Chairman during the time he attended George Mason University.[16] Lee Atwater, the group's Southern regional coordinator, who was two months younger than Rove, managed Rove's campaign. The two spent the spring of 1973 crisscrossing the country in a Ford Pinto, lining up the support of Republican state chairs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The College Republicans summer 1973 convention at the Lake of the Ozarks resort in Missouri was quite contentious. Rove's opponent was Robert Edgeworth of Michigan. The other major candidate, Terry Dolan of California, dropped out, supporting Edgeworth. A number of states had sent two competing delegates, because Rove and his supporters had made credential challenges at state and regional conventions. For example, after the Midwest regional convention, Rove forces had produced a version of the Midwestern College Republicans constitution which differed significantly from the constitution that the Edgeworth forces were using, in order to justify the unseating of the Edgeworth delegates on procedural grounds,[16] including delegations, such as Ohio and Missouri, which had been certified earlier by Rove himself. In the end, there were two votes, conducted by two convention chairs, and two winners—Rove and Edgeworth, each of whom delivered an acceptance speech. After the convention, both Edgeworth and Rove appealed to Republican National CommitteeChairman George H. W. Bush, each contending that he was the new College Republican chairman.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While resolution was pending, Dolan went (anonymously) to the Washington Post with recordings of several training seminars for young Republicans where a co-presenter of Rove's, Bernie Robinson, cautioned against doing the same thing he had done: rooting through opponents' garbage cans. The tape with this story on it, as well as Rove's admonition not to copy similar tricks as Rove's against Dixon, was secretly recorded and edited by Rich Evans, who had hoped to receive an appointment from Rove's competitor in the CRNC chairmanship race.[30] On August 10, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, the Post broke the story in an article titled "GOP Party Probes Official as Teacher of Tricks".[31]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response, then RNC Chairman George H.W. Bush, had an FBI agent question Rove. As part of the investigation, Atwater signed an affidavit, dated August 13, 1973, stating that he had heard a "20 minute anecdote similar to the one described in the Washington Post" in July 1972, but that "it was a funny story during a coffee break".[32] Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, has been quoted as saying "based on my review of the files, it appears the Watergate prosecutors were interested in Rove's activities in 1972, but because they had bigger fish to fry they did not aggressively investigate him."[33]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 6, 1973, three weeks after announcing his intent to investigate the allegations against Rove, George H.W. Bush chose him to be chairman of the College Republicans. Bush then wrote Edgeworth a letter saying that he had concluded that Rove had fairly won the vote at the convention. Edgeworth wrote back, asking about the basis of that conclusion. Not long after that, Edgeworth stated "Bush sent me back the angriest letter I have ever received in my life. I had leaked to the Washington Post, and now I was out of the Party forever."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As National Chairman, Rove introduced Bush to Atwater, who had taken Rove's job as the College Republican's executive director, and who would become Bush's main campaign strategist in future years. Bush hired Rove as a Special Assistant in the Republican National Committee, a job Rove left in 1974 to become Executive Assistant to the co-chair of the RNC, Richard D. Obenshain.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Special Assistant, Rove performed small personal tasks for Bush. In November 1973, he asked Rove to take a set of car keys to his son George W. Bush, who was visiting home during a break from Harvard Business School. It was the first time the two met. "Huge amounts of charisma, swagger, cowboy boots, flight jacket, wonderful smile, just charisma – you know, wow", Rove recalled years later.[31]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This broad-based and even global acclaim for higher education in the United States is strangely at odds with the concentrated political attacks that Cole warns us about and that the academy is currently experiencing. It is particularly out of step with the dark and dysfunctional picture of the academy painted by David Horowitz and his Center for the Study of Popular Culture. [2] If Horowitz were simply a disaffected political crank, as many have hitherto regarded him, then his views on the academy could be easily dismissed. Such dismissal would seem to be all the more in order following his disastrous testimony before the legislative subcommittee inPennsylvania in which he was forced to recant as unsubstantiated [3] several of the cases that he had been widely circulating as documentation of alleged malfeasance in the academy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oddly, however, his campaign goes on. Horowitz, with assistance from Karl Rove and the former House majority whip, Tom DeLay, has briefed Republican members of Congress on his Academic Bill of Rights campaign and DeLay has even distributed copies [4] of Horowitz’s political primer The Art of Political Warfare: How Republicans Can Fight to Win to all Republican members of Congress. Rove refers to Horowitz’s pamphlet as “a perfect pocket guide to winning on the political battlefield."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">i thought i made up a metaphor, but: There is so much money in conservatism these days that Karl Rove rightly boasts, “We can now go to students at Harvard and say, ‘There is now a secure retirement plan for Republican operatives.’” The young people who, like Jack Abramoff before them, have answered conservatism’s call over the past three decades were obeying their conscience, perhaps, but they were also making a canny career move. wrecking crew</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rovesum</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9/10/2013</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 q scott horton: of James Moore (2 bks): two prongs: direct mail and federal prosecutions (Hightower and Siegelman; in Texas Rove tipped reporters on subpoenas, in Hightower's case the day he declared to run again; moeover, prosecuted for common strategies that his clients nd he hilmself used, e.g., seeking donations on off hours of official trip. FBI agent Greg Rampton set up shop, twelve agants and his own xerox machine; found nothing (later tranferred to ID, fabricated evidence at Roby Ridge that wrecked prosecution). Investigated bug (Rove planted himself?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">adopted father gay?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">red Milton Friedman, natinal review, collected Goldwater memorabilia as kid</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> avoids Viet Nam service.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove, Reed and Norquist all Morton Blackwell Leadership Institute alums ( 1970 Rove at 17 organizing in Illinois)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1970 stole letterhead from Dixon Chicago HQ and made thousand flyers "free beer, free food,girls and a good time for nothing" to homeless.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Drops out of college to work for Lee Atwater, who ran his campaign to run CR. Spring 1973 Rove and Atwater crisscross country in a Ford Pinto, campaigning for national chair CR; years later took another shot at college, one course on McKinley (myth of front porch campaign, actually innovative and aggressive mass mailings, demographic targetting (104 Architect). Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate at CRNC 1981 (Karl got Reed lucrative Enron consulting gig circa 2000 though he had worked for them in 1997]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stole college rep election in 1972? () Mentor Segretti recruited Rove, exec dir of CR. McGovern, B-24 bomber pilot in WWII "left-wing peacenik". Staffer Bush 41 Chair of RNC. Introduces Atwater to Bush Sr. Trained in rat-fucking tour. Delivers car keys to Dubya 11/73, infatuated. Marries socialite 1976, divorced three years later. 1981 mom suicide; now remarried, but she cries when ultracompetitive Rove savages her ball into the weeds in croquet.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Built Texas GOP from scratch (never really needed one as the Democrats were conservative?); had his own Xerox machine in the Secretary of State's office to generate mailing lists [vs Vigurie feat]. Hightower ran for Land Commisioner; </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phil Gramm 1984 win senate (with Wendy, pretty much tee'ed up the 2008 crash?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1986 "bugging" of rove's office</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1989 Reed and Pat Robertson meet, Moral Majority defunct, so Christian Coalition; Ramption FBI investigation of Tx dems incl Hightower.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1994 B2 vs Ann Richards (push poll on lesbians?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000 South Carolina primary, on NH loss? surrogates claim McCain collaborated in Viet Nam prison and had illegitimate black daughter (adopted Bangldeshi).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MO: attack their strength: e.g., Richards tolerant, thus lesbian; attacks often via surrogates; Georgia's Saxby Chambliss beat triple amputee Max Cleland who had fought in Viet Nam, winning decorations (ad pictured him next to Saddam and Bin ladin). Chambliss had several stories about why he had not served, mostly relating to a knee football injury, wheras he actually requested and got five student deferments (sein huffpo), and is rated by Golf Digest as #2 golfer in Senate and 33rd in DC, which presumably offers stiff competition (her skipped theintel and armed services committee hearings on why WMD intel so wrong to play with Tiger Woods).[not finding dir conn to rove and roger stone; tom perdue] though $880K leaderhip pacs. Cleland attack provided proof of concept for Kerry Swift Boat? Cleland severe depression for couple years, back at Walter Reed. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove held 250K Enron stock 2001, along with several oil companies while energy policy was being made (rfk2 (p 97).also pharma ; Task Force?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ran WHIG to sell Gulf War</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Plame July 2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On April 5th, 2003? Davis rejected raising customer rates to cope as Cheney and FERC head Hebert [pt Arthur ? And criticized the Feds for not looking at fraud or allowing price caps. Karl Rove worked with Cheney and Ed Gillespie (current member of secret task force representing Enron, former RNC, now Enron lobbyist , later B2 WH counselor) . Strategy was to blame Davis for biggest bankruptcy in US history for refusing to raise rates. Also Abramoff scandal broke around this time, so needed to divent attention from picture of him with Bush. Enron funelled money through Norquist to pay for Gillespie hit ads. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 Bush credits the "architect" with win, promoted to dep Chief of Staff, senior advisor (policy and politics blend in unprecedented way?). 2004 scoffed at "reality based community...who believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernable reality" (Suskind).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 Organized bloggers to attack Rather </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2/2005 Rove applauds Swift Boat at CPAC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coal states went GOP, huge 2000? coal slurry spill ruled act of God; mine and safety wanted to sue Massey but got fired after 26 years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JUDICIAL</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">did well with unsexy tort reform, Phillip Morris helped, so funded B2 in return (Boss R)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Longstanding strategy to take over state legislatures (in part because if we have polarysis in Congress/Federal level, state level is a end-run); this is important for permanent majority,since allows gerrymandering.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Rove also very keen to get control of state level Supreme Courts why? Just another end-run? need them to bless if not redistricting, but no doubr voter disenfranchisement. Tort reform</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove seems to have been active in Alabama, only one of seven states that elect judges, (neal Cohen APCO, tort reform, PM) starting in 1994, by 2006 the most expensive campaigns in country, more than 50 million since 1993. (previous wins in Texas, later in Wisconsin?] Used FedSoc and U of Alabama law to smear Kennedy as pedophile (a juvenile and family court judge, he started foundations to prevent abuse). Also accused him of big tort reform abuse giveaways (took over state supreme court and appellate)[Glynn Wilson].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Siegelman/abramoff? Bill Canary is Rove's best friend? his wife prosecuted ("the girls" will take care of him). DJ Simpson changed sides? house burned, car run off road? Riley, Scanlon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eight AG fired, Griffin protege Arkansas; House jud comm found Rove involved in firings July 2008 contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoena; caved and he and Mier tesitified; he said his role peripheral, but email proved otherwise. Thus it was discovered that Rove and many White House staffers were using RNC email, illegal. (Jennifer Farley told Abramoff not to use official White House email because it would limit what favors could be dispensed). 500 Rove emails sent to parody site, then forwarded to Palast. Five million may have been lost ot trashed, in 2009 estimate rose to 22 million.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aug 2007 resigned to spend more time with the family.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CROSSROADS GPS 501(c)4</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Supposedly independent, but </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Staffed by former RNC (Gillespie) and Chamber of Commerce (Stephen Law); Forti, Dubke Black Rock Group (Americans for Job Security, 60 Plus)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the wake of 2010 CU, AC is game-changer. in 2010 GPS filed with IRS, with suggested percentages for projected activity, no relation to actual. 9/10 Max Baucus askes IRS to investigate. Almost all its monery, over 90 percent, comes from a small number of uber-rich (Reese-Jones, Perenchio, Bob Perry [Swift Boat], Rowling, BW Hughes). targeted Tester (ad pulled by cable syste for gross distortion on non-existent ? EPA farm dust regulations), Baldwin, Warren (ad falsely claims she supported Occupy violence)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2010 (GPS at least 15 million dollars) coord w/ Kochs, but broke in 2011 over debt ceiling?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2012 Rove knocks off Romney rivals one at a time? (eg Gingich up by 13 points ends up 4th?!) One of the biggest spenders (started in 2011 bashing Obama, e.g., Solyndra).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GPS spent $70 million ($175 including related orgs) won nine, lost 21, blamed on "sub-optimal candidates." IRS accidentaly sent returns before decision on status made.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Writes for Weekly St'd and WSJ but do not point out his ties ("defacto head of Rep Party" (vanity fair via-----MMatters). Fox status, hired 2008 temporarily benched after fight over calling Ohio (Romney stalled on concession based on Rove's polling? Bart Simpson writes 100 times]. Rehired 1/13. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Analysis: Rove comes out of the fratboy anything to win tradition (BUT NEVER REALLY IN THE CLUB, NOT LIKED, SO LIT out for the territories in Tx, attracted to B 43 fratboy, good ol boy, fighter jock] which reifies into get and keep power at any cost using all means possible, and that includes coopting and corrupting government entities designed to protect the public good (eg FBI invents crime). An aspect of this is reward your friends (with political power and money) and damage your enemies as quickly and publically as oppible to imtimidate others (hence Plame). In some ways not innovative at all, Atwater dirty tricks and Vigurie direct mail (big data later?). His big contribution was harnessing Christian right (pals with Reed way before Jesus vistied him in pub]; </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also end-run patient cultivation of state judges (changes the DNA/operating system of state, eg voter suppression/redistricting) [Texas and DeLay took the lead on this? Demographic Latino wave hit there sooner?].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GPS and ilk will dominate for foreseeable future since ATI kept CU intact. IRS cowed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reed said evangelicals a record 27% of electorate, 78% went for Romney. Before, could deliver as reliabler GOTV foot soldiers, plus energized by wedge issues no one really cares about? (Reed teflon, reinvents anotyher orgaization, newest Faith and Freedom , playing native Americans for Abramoff?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iron Triangle with hughes and allbaugh (enforcer); What relation to Cheney?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JUDICIAL</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kennedy alabama SupCt candidate, non profit for abused kids (opponent H See, recruited by Biz Council). campaign on tort reform, got attn of Neal Cohen, Rove assoc, who created lawsuit abuse network. See side showed pix of Kennedy w kids, then used law school (kids from all over state) to start whisper/smear 41. sop is to attack positives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Glynn Wilson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How did Karl “Turd Blossom” Rove, the adopted son of a gay man with pierced balls and a drunk, drug addict mother, become such a powerful and destructive force in American politics?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the South we have a long history of asking people where they’re from, about their family. We have a need to know something about their mama. Yet as an American demographic, white Southern males over 50 have been listening to the politicians handled by Karl Rove and his ilk for three decades now. How did this happen?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Karl Rove’s personal story may be a sad and tragic one, it may also explain why he became such a vicious, mean political animal. But that does not mean we have to listen to him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Was it not clear enough in 2008 that Rove’s crowning political achievement, fooling the American establishment and the people into electing one of the worst presidents in U.S. history twice, George W. Bush, that his brand of Machiavellian, scorched-earth politics is bad for American democracy and the global economy?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, according to all the available evidence, including the reporting in Craig Unger’s bookBoss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, Rove sits on the largest political war chest in human history. He has usurped the National Republican Party’s fund raising authority. He’s using millions of dollars from billionaire donors to try to help Massachusetts Mormon Mitt Romney unseat President Barack Obama from the White House, and he’s now allowed to do it in a totally unaccountable way due to the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How is it possible that no one in the American news media been able to bury this horrendous political animal and stop him from destroying what’s left of this experiment in government of, by and for “the people?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Rove’s client Mitt Romney wins the presidential election of 2012, chances are we will end up in another world war, perhaps a nuclear war, and a global depression, according to a variety of experts. But even the president of the United States can’t seem to effectively make that case with only two weeks to go before the Nov. 6 elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So we will make the case here.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Background</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Craig Unger was hobnobbing with the political brass in Dallas, Texas, and knows the Bush family political landscape where Rove got his first start in big time politics, and his book is highly recommended for anyone wanting to know the factual big picture of what happened, I know the other state where Karl Rove really cut his political consulting teeth, Alabama. When Rove was invited by Bill Canary of the Business Council of Alabama to come help Republicans take over the state Supreme Court starting in 1994, I had already worked as a political reporter for newspapers in South Alabama and North Alabama and covered the final term in office of George C. Wallace, one of the brilliant politicians who mastered the art of dirty tricks Rove would study and steal tactics from — especially using racism as a political weapon.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1994, however, I was not in a position to cover what became a Conservative Revolution in Alabama politics while House Speaker Newt Gingrich took over Congress and implemented his so-called “Contract With America.” I had my nose in books and academic research papers studying how the news media effects public opinion in a Master’s degree program at the University of Alabama, in the College of Communications and the Political Science department. In the very early days of the Internet and Web browsers, I was spending much of my time in Gorgus Library reading books and journals in paper form and making hundreds of copies of documents, which I still have in metal file cabinets all underlined from my extensive readings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By 1995, I finished my Master’s thesis, earned my degree and left the state to teach in Georgia, then to work on a Ph.D. in Tennessee. By the year 2000, the year the U.S. Supreme Court handed George W. Bush the keys to the White House in the wake of the hanging chad controversy in Florida, I had moved to News Orleans to teach and conduct research at Loyola University New Orleans. By 2002, I was writing for The Dallas Morning News, however, and then the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2004, when Taylor Bright did one of the few stories on what Karl Rove was up to in Alabama for the now defunct Birmingham Post-Herald, and Joshua Green was working on his piece for Atlantic Monthly on Karl Rove in a Corner, I did my own investigation and told the definitive story on George W. Bush’s lost year in 1972. Bush was hiding out from a drug charge in Houston by working on the Senate campaign of Republican Red Blount in Montgomery, Alabama, while Karl Rove was stealing his first election — as president of the College Republicans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I moved to Washington, D.C. in 2004 to get news work in the nation’s capital, and maybe find a way to help stop Bush from being re-elected to a second term. I already had a sense that the Bush-Rove style of politics was bad for America, but nobody would listen then. Nobody seemed to care until in early 2008, we found out that the country had already been in a Great Recession since the winter of 2007.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All of a sudden the political landscape was ripe for a Harvard educated black guy like Barack Obama, a one-term U.S. Senator from Chicago.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since moving back to my home state, however, I finally got the opportunity to interview Mark Kennedy earlier this year on what really happened to him in 1994.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kennedy, the son-in-law of George Wallace himself, was the first state Supreme Court Justice targeted by Karl Rove, who came to work for a University of Alabama Law School professor named Harold See at the behest of the Business Council of Alabama. It was and is still run by Bill Canary who had worked as a political operative for George H.W. Bush. We haven’t seen much of Canary since he was named prominently in all the stories about thepolitical prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kennedy actually beat Rove and his candidate in that first race, barely, but he was so shaken by the dirty campaign tactics that he decided not to seek another term and face Rove again in 1998. He retired, but finally agreed in 2010 to get back into politics as head of the Alabama Democratic Party.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I caught up with him at an AFL-CIO convention in Prattville last fall and got him to tell me the story of what Karl Rove did to him. You can see the interview in the video above.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before being elected to the state Supreme Court, Kennedy served as a juvenile judge and family-court judge, where he saw the negative plight of abused children who ended up in the justice system. In light of his experiences, he helped start the Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama and later the Corporate Foundation for Children and served as president of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect. Kennedy’s campaign commercials showed his volunteer work, and included pictures of him holding hands with children he had helped.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove took those innocent pictures and, in the early days of the Internet, got Republican operatives at the University of Alabama Law School and the secretive, conservative Federalist Society to e-mail around an attack ad claiming Kennedy was a gay pedophile. It was not unlike the “whispering campaign” he used in Texas to get Bush elected over Ann Richards, who he accused of being a lesbian in similar fashion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Karl Rove is a expert at turning what you believe to be your strongest suit into being your worst nightmare, kind of like the Swiftboat ads,” Kennedy said. “He accused me of being a pedophile.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove also exaggerated the issue of large jury awards and turned “tort reform” into a campaign issue, accusing judges like Kennedy of being “too liberal” and guilty of “jackpot justice.” With those misleading tactics, he managed to take over the Texas and Alabama appellate court systems by getting pro-big business Republicans elected. Over time the Alabama Supreme Court and the Court of Civil Appeals became a “no win zone” for any average Alabamian seeking justice for a grievance against any corporate entity that wronged them. Big insurance companies loved this, so they chipped in millions to Rove’s campaigns after that and still support him to this day in a big way.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While it is clear that even if there was an imbalance in the court system in favor of juries granting too much to defendants in trials in those days, the pendulum has swung way too far back in the other direction, and nobody in the mainstream media is telling that story.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So in the process of investigating this, to show how imbalanced the courts have become, we caught up with a Montgomery woman named Jo Ann Shiver. She is also interviewed in thevideo.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How the Supreme Court Came Up With ‘Sovereign Immunity’ for Hospitals</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shiver’s mother was killed by a deadly staph infection she caught in a Baptist hospital that was ignored and even covered up by the hospital staff.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Her sister filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery hospital and actually managed to win a jury verdict in the lower court. But the case was thrown out by the state Supreme Court, by the judges Rove and his brand of dirty politics were instrumental in electing to the bench.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ms. Shiver said she has no doubt politics played a role in the case. “Follow the money,” she said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You could research the court dockets in this state and find hundreds of cases like this where justice was clearly not done. But this one is so strange it deserves special attention.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this case, not only did the justices throw out the jury verdict and the award for damages. They actually set a precedent that unless reversed soon will result in thousands of unnecessary deaths by unaccountable doctors and hospitals. Here again, the University of Alabama plays a critical role in this part of the saga.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Montgomery hospital had entered into a management agreement with the university on paper to handle some of the accounting due to some financial problems they were having, and as a result, the Supreme Court ruled that the hospital was a legal entity of the state and could not be sued under an old English Common Law tenant known as “Sovereign Immunity.” You could not sue the King in a Monarchy, and under certain circumstances, you can’t sue the state even today.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But somehow I doubt that even those who wrote the language for the English law would have envisioned a day when sovereign immunity would cover a private, for profit hospital owned by a church.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The court vacated a $3.2 million jury verdict in favor of the family of Lauree Durden Ellison. She died Nov. 8, 2005, after a stay at Baptist Medical Center East in Montgomery. She developed a staph infection from the hospital, but the church-state hospital administrators refused further treatment and denied liability or responsibility.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They said she slipped through the cracks,” Ms. Shiver said, nearly tearing up.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I have searched high and low for an independent legal expert who could address this situation with insight. But so far, apparently the precedent is so strange that no one knows anything about it. It truly is one of those times when you have to throw up your hands and say, “only in Alabama.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Nobody knows the consequences of that opinion. It goes where no one has gone before,” Mark White, a former president of the Alabama Bar Association, told a Tuscaloosa newspaper reporter last year in one of the few news stories on the case to get reported in Alabama. No national news organization has touched the story.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then-Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, the one Democrat on the court at the time who dissented in the case, said although Baptist Health retains an interest in its assets that are managed by the UAB health care authority, the court’s decision means the hospital is no longer “legally responsible for the harm that may be caused by its negligence.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Shouldn’t a hospital be responsible if they cut the wrong leg off?” Ms. Shiver asks. “It gives them license to be negligent.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Powell, an attorney for a friend-of-the-court group, said sovereign immunity is a powerful legal-protection device.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You can only sue the king if the king lets you,” he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Alabama Association for Justice and the Alabama AFL-CIO have asked the court to grant a rehearing in the case, but so far, the high court has been non-responsive.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morris Lilienthal, a trial lawyer in North Alabama who has reviewed the Ellison case, said the decision overreaches in a major way.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s going to have dramatic effects on the law in Alabama,” he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The effect, in essence, is that all the health systems in Alabama, which already have “unbelievable, overreaching” protections under the Alabama Medical Liability Act, “may just be totally immune” from negligence or wrongful death claims from now on, Lilienthal said. “The doctors and staff there now have compete immunity from any accident.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Law as a Check on Greed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The law is supposed to be a leveler for and a check on “corporations out just for greed and money” and has made the world a safer place, he said. Even doctors should admit if they operate on the wrong limb of someone or leave medical instruments in a person and cause harm, for example, they should be held to a certain standard and be held accountable.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Ellison case sets up a scenario where they are no longer held to a standard and are immune from any accountability. “It’s certainly not fair,” he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tom Edwards, who ran for a state Supreme Court slot in 2010 as a Democrat and lost, said the Ellison case is a “clear example of how our Supreme Court will go out of its way to protect big business.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked if he thought Rove’s takeover of the courts ended up creating a big corporation protection bureau and destroyed constitutional jury rights, making it impossible for average folks to get justice in the court system, he said: “That’s exactly what happened.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They do it very systematically,” he said. “The decision uses strained logic to set a legal precedent that grants state sovereign immunity to a private, profit-making operation competing in the private sector. It was a way for them to go out of their way to protect the medical industry.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Activist Judges?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another one of Rove’s tactics is to get his clients to rail against “activist liberal judges” who “legislate from the bench” to protect minorities and such.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But no one ever seems seems to talk about “activist conservative judges” who legislate from the bench to protect big corporations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Ellison case, Edwards said, is an example of “an activist court of an extreme nature. They write new laws from the bench every Friday, and they protect big corporations over the citizens of Alabama.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course many doctors, hospitals, their PACs and their insurance carriers give millions of dollars in campaign contributions every year, mostly to Republicans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now ask yourself if your vote matters. If a hospital killed your mother, would you not want to sue somebody? Apparently you can’t do that anymore in Alabama.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For average working folks to vote Republican is “absolutely against their economic interest,” according to union officials such as Al Henley of the Alabama AFL-CIO and Auburn History Professor Wayne Flynt.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, Lienthall added, most states have a tort claims act on the books where state entities can be held liable. But not in Alabama, he said, which is still operating under an outdated constitution written in 1901, updated in election years by constitutional amendments placed on the ballot at election time — and by judges. Those judges are elected as partisans who must raise millions in campaign contributions to get elected to jobs that qualify them for state retirement benefits — subsidized by the taxpayers, citizens who no longer possess full citizenship since they have no right to sue for damages or render judgements against corporations from the jury box.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legal experts agree that where legislatures and courts intercede on these rights they violate the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet again, Karl Rove and his clients are getting away with trampling on the constitution — seemingly without challenge. Only on the Web Press.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why is it that the people who are getting screwed the worst keep voting for them?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time,” Lincoln said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unless you can convince them all to get their news from talk radio and Fox.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://blog.locustfork.net/2012/10/how-karl-rove-took-over-the-alabama-supreme-court-and-created-a-no-win-zone-for-citizens/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove Linked to Obscene Cost of Alabama Judicial Elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by: mooncat</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tue Oct 02, 2007 at 17:30:41 PM CDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's amazing that so few Alabamians know this bit of political history. Karl Rove got involved in Alabama politics in 1994, at the behest of the Business Council of Alabama (BCA.) The BCA felt that Alabama Courts were too plaintiff friendly back then -- I believe they called it a "plaintiff's paradise" -- and wanted to get Republican judges elected to the state courts. Rove had a good track record of that in Texas, so the group hired him to handle some judicial campaigns in Alabama.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Janie Shores, a retired Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, marks that as the point when the cost of judicial races in the state began to skyrocket.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Karl Rove moved into Alabama in 1994 and made races a marathon in spending," said Shores, a state justice from 1974 until she retired in 1999.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shores spoke at the opening of the 2007-2008 term of the Alabama appellate courts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"That's something we have to do something about," she told the assembly that included members of all three state appellate courts. "There is simply no way to sustain the incredible amount of money that is being spent on judicial races."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama had the nation's most expensive Supreme Court campaigns in 2006 with 15 candidates raising $13.4 million. The state's 2006 figure broke the state's old record of $12.3 million set in 2000, according to the Justice at Stake Campaign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More than $54.5 million has been spent since 1993.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the article, Shores favors spending regulations to get the cost of judicial elections back under control. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama's current Chief Justice, Sue Bell Cobb has also expressed concern that judicial candidates have to spend too much time and effort raising campaign dollars. At a meeting of the Alabama Bar Association last summer she said </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We need your help," to get rid of the partisanship, money and rancor that have become a part of judicial campaigning.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaking before the Women's Economic Development Council in Huntsville last month, Chief Justice Cobb</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... encouraged the audience to push for judicial election reform. Alabama is one of only seven states that holds partisan judicial elections, a practice she said "erodes impartiality and public trust."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We've got to tell our business leaders what they need to hear, not what they want to hear," she said. "It will not change unless the business community wants it to change."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Business Council of Alabama brought Rove into Alabama judicial elections and turned them into money contests where judicial experience, competence and good judgement are trumped by fundraising skills. This state of affairs doesn't inspire confidence in the impartiality of our courts -- all too often, the people a judge sees in court are the same ones the judge will need to ask for a campaign contribution. Other states have reformed judicial elections and Alabama can too, but Judge Cobb is right, it won't happen unless the business community sees the problem, repudiates Rovian election strategies and gets behind real reform.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mooncat :: Karl Rove Linked to Obscene Cost of Alabama Judicial Elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-did-karl-rove-and-his-gop-thugs.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here in Alabama, all of this has me thinking about one of the great political mysteries of the past generation. It's a mystery that began to unfold before Bush ever took office, but it did not gain national attention until Dubya and his acolytes were in charge of the U.S. Department of Justice.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The mystery can be summarized by two questions: (1) Why did Karl Rove and his pro-business GOP thugs target Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman? (2) Why did the Bush administration proceed with what has become the most notorious political prosecution in American history?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those questions are particularly powerful now because Siegelman last week filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court for review of his 2006 convictions on bribery and obstruction of justice charges. This appears to be Siegelman's last crack at appellate review, and if it is denied, he probably is headed back to federal prison.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I've probably written more words about the Siegelman affair than just about anyone on the planet, so I might as well take a crack at answering those questions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those who believe that the Siegelman prosecution was legitimate, that the former governor and codefendant Richard Scrushy really did commit crimes over a contribution to an education-lottery campaign, often say something like this: "Why would Karl Rove and his associates worry about Don Siegelman? Alabama is a backwater state that nobody cares about, and its governor was not all that important. Why would Rove even care about a relative nobody like Don Siegelman?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Folks who ask these questions underestimate Alabama's strategic importance. They also underestimate the grotesque greed and lust for power that has come to grip the modern GOP. Most importantly, they ignore the fact that Don Siegelman was a central figure in three financial and political scenarios that spelled potential danger for the Republican Party and the money men who support it. Let's examine these scenarios:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* The Duel Over An Air Force Refueling-Tanker Contract--Journalist/lawyer Andrew Kreig, of the D.C.-based Justice Integrity Project, has reported that the Siegelman prosecution was driven largely by the fierce competition between Boeing and EADS for a $40-billion Air Force refueling-tanker contract. Republicans are known to wear patriotism on their sleeves, so you might expect them to support an American company such as Boeing. But EADS planned to build a manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama, and that meant the business forces that control our state strongly supported the European contender. Where does Siegelman fit into this picture? He had helped Boeing expand a plant in Huntsville, Alabama, and locate a new facility in Decatur, Alabama. Siegelman served as governor from 1998 to 2002, and business interests feared he would favor Boeing over EADS during a second term. How to get Siegelman out of the picture? About three months after Siegelman took office, Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor launched an investigation that later would be taken over by federal officials. Key events in the investigation seemed to be timed around the 2002 election, which Siegelman lost to challenger Bob Riley, and the 2006 election--when Siegelman had appeared to be the strongest likely challenger to Riley. Who ran Bill Pryor's campaign for the attorney general's office? Why, none other than Karl Rove. Did Pryor's efforts eventually pay off? Bush appointed him to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Did the effort to bring down Siegelman pay off? No, it did not; the tanker contract went to Boeing.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* The Battle Over Fraud and ExxonMobil--As early as 1995, Alabama conservation officials began to suspect that oil companies weren't paying the proper amounts under leases for natural-gas rights. The issue surfaced under Republican Governor Fob James but picked up steam when Siegelman took office in 1999. He hired the Mobile law firm of Cunningham Bounds Yance Crowder and Brown to represent the state in lawsuits involving oil companies. The firm must have done a pretty good job because it won a $3.5-billion jury verdict against ExxonMobil. But the punitive damages were overturned by the Republican-packed Alabama Supreme Court. Did Karl Rove and his buddies at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce want to make sure that Don Siegelman never again went after big oil? I would say the answer is yes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* The Threat of a Pro-Gun Democrat in the Deep South--Siegelman built a relatively strong progressive record while holding four different statewide offices in Alabama--governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. But he was to the right of most Democrats on the issue of guns. And sources tell Legal Schnauzer this infuriated, and terrified, Republican politicos. Our sources say that Siegelman was not a hard-core supporter of gun rights, but he developed a relatively friendly relationship with the National Rifle Association for his support of guns in hunting and other sporting activities. In fact, NRA icon Charlton Heston signed a letter supporting Siegelman in the 2002 governor's race. Why would this cause considerable consternation among Republicans? Political scientists who studied the 2000 presidential race have noted that the NRA's massive spending that helped place normally Democratic West Virginia in the GOP column was a critical factor in winning the White House for George W. Bush. Had West Virginia remained a Democratic stronghold, the subsequent Florida vote-counting controversy would have mattered little; Al Gore already would have had the electoral vote sewn up. Republicans have made huge political strides from scaring sportsmen with the notion that Democrats are going to take away their guns. But there was Siegelman, in the heart of deep-red Dixie, winning an endorsement from the NRA. If other Southern Democrats had taken similar stances on guns, it could have spelled political calamity for Republicans. Is that the reason they had to take down Siegelman?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our list of GOP motivations for the Siegelman prosecution is not all inclusive. It does not include, for example, the fact that Siegelman threatened Jack Abramoff and his Mississippi gaming clients by proposing an education lottery in Alabama.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So what is our No. 1 reason that Karl Rove and his thugs targeted Don Siegelman? The gun issue is perhaps the most interesting one because of its potential for national political implications; Democrats probably should ponder whether it's wise to come across as anti-gun in a country that clearly loves its firearms. The Boeing vs. EADS issue is intriguing because of the sheer volume of money involved. But when you consider the timing and the long-standing power of the players involved, I would say Siegelman's battles with the oil industry are the No. 1 reason he was targeted.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Siegelman sicced a Mobile law firm on big oil in 1999, and the Boeing/EADS battle didn't pick up major steam until about 2001. The gun issue and Charlton Heston did not become known until just before the 2002 election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's not enough for big oil to screw consumers at the pumps every summer. It also wants to defraud states out of the true value for their mineral rights. Could Alabama have used that $3.5 billion? It sure could have--for better schools, roads and bridges, health care, you name it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Siegelman was fighting for that, and our guess is, that's why big oil decided he had to be stopped.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posted by legalschnauzer at 6:39 AM </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Labels: Boeing, Charlton Heston, Don Siegelman, EADS, ExxonMobil, Karl Rove, NRA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 comments:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SMOKEY JOE BARTON</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WAS ROVE INVOLVED IN DELAY GERRYMANDER TEXAS ?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCJVojvhO_oC&dq=inauthor:%22Lou+Dubose%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Architect of George W. Bush's Remarkable Political Triumphs (Google eBook)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carl M. Cannon, Lou Dubose, Jan Reid</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rove turned coal states gop (penn, w va, va, so ohio)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">oct 2000 250 mil gal coal sludge spill (total of 2.2b) 20x exxon v spill, after election ruled an act of god (negligence 5 yrs old, thus stat of limit) 209 Mine and health safe wanted to sue massey, but fired, 26 yrs of great job</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">coal mine bonds don't need to prove solvency strat</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">took out Gray Davis:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Cheney Takes Aim at Davis</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Meanwhile, Cheney continued to meet with energy company officials who were instrumental in drafting key aspects of the National Energy Policy. At the same time, the usually reclusive vice president was granting interviews to numerous reporters discussing his take on the California energy crisis which continued to spiral out of control.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> In May 2001, the PBS news program "Frontline" interviewed Cheney who was asked by a correspondent whether energy companies were acting like a cartel and using manipulative tactics to cause electricity prices to spike in California.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> "No," Cheney said during the "Frontline" interview, even though he was personally briefed about energy companies manipulating the state. "The problem you had in California was caused by a combination of things - an unwise regulatory scheme, because they didn't really deregulate. Now they’re trapped from unwise regulatory schemes, plus, not having addressed the supply side of the issue. They've obviously created major problems for themselves and bankrupted PG&E in the process."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The same month, May 2001, Davis met with Bush at a Century City hotel, not far from the offices he now works at as an attorney. He pleaded with Bush one last time to put price controls in place. Bush refused.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Behind the scenes, while Bush and Davis discussed the state of the energy crisis, Gillespie was emailing Enron officials on the status of Cheney's energy policy. He alerted Enron executives to the exact language that would appear on one of the hot-button issues revolving around price caps in California and the west and allowing energy companies free access to the nation's transmission lines.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> "I believe this is the exact language that will appear under the 'energy supply' section of the report," Gillespie wrote. "Recommends that the President encourage the FERC to use its existing statutory authority to promote competition and encourage investment in transmission facilities," which Enron was lobbying heavily for. "Please keep this under wraps. We do not want to circulate this beyond the folks listed on this email. Please let me know any concerns. As we have known for several weeks, the report is not as explicit as we would want, but the White House, vice president, and [Department of Energy] have repeatedly but verbally assured us that they are making clear to FERC exactly what this means."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Another email Gillespie forwarded Enron officials, dated May 17, 2001, came from Cheney's spokeswoman, Juleanna Glover, who told Gillespie "you're really relied upon around here ... hear your name all the time in connection w. tough issues, but you know that already."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> On May 21, 2001, five days after unveiling his energy policy, Cheney told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" that Davis was to blame for the energy issues in the state.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> "They knew over a year ago they had a problem, and Gray Davis refused to address that problem," Cheney said. "[They] kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off, with the notion that somehow price caps could be maintained. Now, today, where are they in California?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> GOP Front Group Attacks Gray Davis, Shields Bush, Cheney</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> At the same time, Reed informed Rove and Cheney that his nonprofit, the American Taxpayers Alliance, a Republican front organization, would begin to air a series of scathing radio commercials taking aim at Davis's failure to tame the energy crisis in June 2001. The ads, Reed said, were aimed to shift attention away from Republicans in Washington and "back to Sacramento where it belongs." Reed added that the ads would leave Davis "bleeding like a stuck pig."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The ads, which began to air in June 2001, did in fact make an impact:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> "He's pointing fingers and blaming others. Gray Davis says he's not responsible for California's energy problems; after all, the Public Utilities Commission blocked long-term cost-saving contracts for electricity. But who runs the PUC? The people Gray Davis appointed - Loretta Lynch and other Davis appointees who left us powerless. That's why newspapers say he just ignored all the warning signals and turned a problem into a crisis. Grayouts on Gray Davis."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The ads and the negative press Davis received helped set in motion a chain of events that would lead to a historic recall campaign and put Schwarzenegger in office.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> What the public didn't know, however, is that Cheney and Rove recommended that Reed approach Reliant Energy, the firm that one of Cheney's energy task force advisers, Joseph Allbaugh, was affiliated with via his wife's lobbying for the company, to fund the radio spots, according to former Reliant executives involved in the matter. Reliant donated nearly $2 million of Reed's $3.2 annual budget, yet the company only reported spending a total of $340,000 on government lobbying in apparent violation of the law, according to the company's public records.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Gillespie also launched a public relations campaign against Davis. He took ads out in print publications attacking Davis. The ads were paid for by Gillespie's 21st Century Energy Project, which he formed in close coordination with Karl Rove less than a month after the National Energy Policy was released in May 2001, according to former Enron executives who worked closely with Gillespie. Enron funneled at least $75,000 to Gillespie to pay for the ads through Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, according to documents obtained by Truthout.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Russ Schriefer, who worked with Gillespie on Bush’s presidential campaign and formed Mosaic Media with Quinn Gillespie in February 2001 to produce advocacy ads for Republicans, wrote the Davis ads. The ads aired on ABC, Fox and CNN.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Norquist, a longtime friend of Cheney's, was personally tapped by Rove to assist Gillespie with the ad campaign. Norquist may be best known for his close relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. One of Abramoff's clients, Raul Garza, chief of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, donated $25,000 to Norquist's organization in order to obtain an invitation to a reception with President Bush on May 9, 2001. Norquist and Abramoff were also in attendance and a photograph of Garza standing alongside Bush with Abramoff in the background was kept from public view when the Abramoff scandal blew up. Bush had denied publicly that he ever met Abramoff.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> At the time, Gillespie said the ads were necessary "because Davis put all his time and energy into trying to shift responsibility and President Bush spent all his time and energy trying to accept responsibility. The president is trying to change the tone, but others of us have to point out that the crisis developed on the watch of Governor Davis and President Clinton."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Executive Privilege</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Immediately following reports that Cheney relied upon the recommendations of 400 energy industry executives to draft the National Energy Policy, lawmakers began to demand that the vice president turn over documents regarding his task force meetings to Congress. The vice president vehemently refused.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> --</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a confidential 2010 filing, Crossroads GPS — the dark money group that spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election — told the Internal Revenue Service that its efforts would focus on public education, research and shaping legislation and policy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group's application for recognition as a social welfare nonprofit acknowledged that it would spend money to influence elections, but said "any such activity will be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organization's primary purpose." </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political insiders and campaign-financ vwatchdogs have long questioned how Crossroads, the brainchild of GOP strategist Karl Rove, had characterized its intentions to the IRS.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, for the first time, ProPublica has obtained the group's application for recognition of tax-exempt status, filed in September 2010. The IRS has not yet recognized Crossroads GPS as exempt, causing some tax experts to speculate that the agency is giving the application extra scrutiny. If Crossroads GPS is ultimately not recognized, it could be forced to reveal the identities of its donors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The tax code allows groups like Crossroads to spend money on political campaigns — and to keep their donors private — as long as their primary purpose is enhancing social welfare.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossroads' breakdown of planned activities said it would focus half its efforts on "public education," 30 percent on "activity to influence legislation and policymaking" and 20 percent on "research," including sponsoring "in-depth policy research on significant issues."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This seems at odds with much of what the group has done since filing the application, experts said. Within two months of filing its application, Crossroads spent about $15.5 million on ads telling people to vote against Democrats or for Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections...http://www.propublica.org/article/what-karl-roves-dark-money-nonprofit-told-the-irs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fight with TP</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/gop-civil-war-continues-tea-party-groups-launch-campaign-against-karl-rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 8, 2013 | </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative organization FreedomWorks is fundraising off of Fox News contributor Karl Rove's efforts to, in the group's words, "silence grassroots activists and make sure that only big-government RINO's call the shots in Washington."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove, along with allies from his Crossroads political groups, recently launched the Conservative Victory Project. According to The New YorkTimes, the group will work to "recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts." The project has sparked a civil war among conservative commentators, with some of Rove's own Fox News colleagues calling the group "absolutely repulsive" and "an incumbency protection racket."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FreedomWorks, which attacked Rove when the project was announced, has launched NotKarlsParty.com. In a video touting the effort, FreedomWorks spokeswoman and Fox News contributor Deneen Borelli says that "Karl Rove and his unprincipled establishment candidates" are trying to "take over the GOP." The message asks followers to visit NotKarlsParty.com to "file a petition to give Karl Rove a piece of your mind."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove, meanwhile, is racing full speed ahead on all fronts. On February 15, he trekked up to Capitol Hill to deliver a lesson on messaging to House Republican leaders. American Crossroads came out swinging early-and hard-in the Kentucky Senate race, bashing actress Ashley Judd for even thinking about challenging Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. (Beyond the leader's obvious VIP status, there is a personal element to this: Crossroads' Law once served as McConnell's chief of staff.) And Rove just keeps on talking about the Conservative Victory Project, as media outlets devote vastly more ink and airtime to the subject than it could have garnered without the attendant controversy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, Rove isn't the only one poised to benefit from this spectacle. Even as he pokes purists in an apparent effort to jumpstart his 2014 money machine, the purists are looking to fill their coffers by poking back. "They need their shiny ball strategy too," observes the veteran strategist. "Everybody is trying to raise money." And just like Rove, these groups play rough-at times a little too rough. Last week the Tea Party Patriots had to issue an apology for a help-us-fight-Karl-Rove fundraising plea that included a Photoshopped image of their target dressed as an SS officer. (An outside vendor took responsibility for the pic.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/15868-karl-roves-war-on-the-tea-party</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2012 election:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the November election, a million more Americans voted for Democrats seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives than Republicans. But that popular vote advantage did not result in control of the chamber. Instead, despite getting fewer votes, Republicans have maintained a commanding control of the House. Such a disparity has happened only three times in the last century.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Here’s a chart comparing 2010 and 2012.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Analysts and others have identified redistricting as a key to the disparity. Republicans had a years-long strategy of winning state houses in order to control each state's once-a-decade redistricting process. (Confused about redistricting? Check out our song.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican strategist Karl Rove laid out the approach in a Wall Street Journal column in early 2010 headlined "He who controls redistricting can control Congress."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The approach paid off. In 2010 state races, Republicans picked up 675 legislative seats, gaining complete control of 12 state legislatures. As a result, the GOP oversaw redrawing of lines for four times as many congressional districts as Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How did they dominate redistricting? A ProPublica investigation has found that the GOP relied on opaque nonprofits funded by dark money, supposedly nonpartisan campaign outfits, and millions in corporate donations to achieve Republican-friendly maps throughout the country. Two tobacco giants, Altria and Reynolds, each pitched in more than $1 million to the main Republican redistricting group, as did Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads; Walmart and the pharmaceutical industry also contributed. Other donors, who gave to the nonprofits Republicans created, may never have to be disclosed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While many observers have noted that mega-donors like Sheldon Adelson backed losing candidates, a close look at the Republicans' effort on redistricting suggests something else: The hundreds of millions spent this year on presidential TV ads may not have hit the mark, but the relatively modest sums funneled to redistricting paid off handsomely.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where Democrats were in control, they drew gerrymandered maps just like Republicans. They also had their own secretive redistricting funding. (Last year, we detailed how Democrats in California worked to undermine the state's attempt at non-partisan redistricting.) But Democrats got outspent 3-to-1 and did not prioritize winning state legislatures. They also faced a Republican surge in 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exactly how the Republican effort worked has been shrouded in mystery until now. But depositions and other documents in a little-noticed lawsuit in North Carolina offer an exceptionally detailed picture of Republicans' tactics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents show that national Republican operatives, funded by dark money groups, drew the crucial lines which packed as many Democrats as possible into three congressional districts. The result: the state's congressional delegation flipped from 7-6 Democratic to 9-4 in favor of Republicans. The combination of party operatives, cash and secrecy also existed in other states, including Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Redistricting is supposed to protect the fundamental principle of one-person-one-vote. As demographics change, lines are shifted to make sure everyone is equally represented and to give communities a voice. In order for Republicans to win in North Carolina, they undermined the votes of Democrats, especially African-Americans. (Party leaders in North Carolina say they were simply complying with federal voting laws.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The strategy began in the run-up to the 2010 elections. Republicans poured money into local races in North Carolina and elsewhere. It was an efficient approach. While congressional races routinely cost millions, a few thousand dollars can swing a campaign for a seat in the state legislature</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republican effort to influence redistricting overall was spearheaded by a group called the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has existed since 2002. For most of that time, it was primarily a vehicle for donors like health care and tobacco companies to influence state legislatures, key battlegrounds for regulations that affect corporate America. Its focus changed in 2010 when Ed Gillespie, former counselor to President George W. Bush, was named chairman. His main project: redistricting.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Soon after Gillespie took over, the RSLC announced an effort to influence state races throughout the country, the Redistricting Majority Project, or REDMAP. Fundraising soared. The group raised $30 million in 2010, by far its best year. (Its Democratic counterpart raised roughly $10 million.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RSLC is organized as a type of political group that can take in unlimited corporate donations. It must disclose its contributors. But that doesn't mean it's always possible to trace the origins of the money.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Along with Walmart and tobacco companies, the RSLC's largest funders in 2010 were the Chamber of Commerce and American Justice Partnership, which gave a combined $6.5 million. Those two groups raise money from corporations and others but don't have to disclose their donors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the 2010 North Carolina legislative elections heated up, the RSLC jumped into local races. But the way they made contributions kept their involvement away from the attention of state voters. Rather than running campaign ads under its own name, the RSLC distributed money to a newly formed local nonprofit. The RSLC declined to comment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RSLC gave $1.25 million to its vehicle of choice Real Jobs NC. The group calls itself a "non-partisan organization that believes we need to return to a reliance on the free enterprise system that made our country great for real answers." It was started in 2010 and got a hefty $200,000 boost from dollar store magnate and Republican supporter Art Pope, although Pope denies his donation was related to redistricting or REDMAP.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Real Jobs NC produced ads and mailers slamming more than 20 state Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Steve Goss … nice guy," intoned the voiceover in one such ad in North Carolina, attacking then-Democratic State Senator Goss. "Too bad he's voting with the Raleigh liberals over hometown conservatives."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Goss lost, and Democrats lost control of North Carolina's General Assembly for the first time in a century. The pattern repeated itself across the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Twenty legislative bodies which were previously split or under Democratic control are now under Republican control," said a triumphant RSLC REDMAP post-election analysis, highlighting its spending in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, among other states.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The next step for Republicans was to draw district maps, which can be expensive. The maps require expertise, extensive data and sophisticated software. Skillful map drawers can make even the most partisan gerrymander look reasonable.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To fund the work, the Republican State Leadership Committee used its previously dormant nonprofit arm, the State Government Leadership Foundation. Such dark money groups are increasingly popular because they are allowed to keep secret the identity of their donors. Federal tax law permits them to do this as long as they pledge that politics is not their primary focus.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Flush with anonymous donors' cash, the Foundation paid $166,000 to hire the GOP's pre-eminent redistricting experts, according to tax documents. The team leader was Tom Hofeller, architect of Republican-friendly maps going back decades.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Our team would be happy to assist in drawing proposed maps, interpreting data, or providing advice," wrote Chris Jankowski, the head of both the RSLC and State Government Leadership Foundation, in a of introduction to North Carolina legislators. The letter was disclosed as part of the North Carolina lawsuit.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We are engaged in a number of states and believe we are playing a meaningful role in helping draw fair and legal lines that will allow us to run competitive elections in 2012 and in future cycles," Jankowski added.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The same letter emphasized that the Republican redistricting push was being funded through its dark money nonprofit: "The entirety of this effort will be paid for using non-federal dollars through our 501c(4) organization."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jankowski, representing both the RSLC and the Foundation, declined to comment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because Hofeller's team was paid with dark money and the redistricting process is so secretive, it is hard to know the full extent of its activities. In Wisconsin, the team provided technical assistance to an aide to Rep. Paul Ryan as he drew new districts that favored Republicans. In Missouri, Hofeller was the sole witness called by attorneys representing the Republican legislators who drew the maps there.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the case of North Carolina, Hofeller made his first trip to Raleigh on Feb. 1, 2011, even before final state Census data had been released, the first of 10 trips that year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From then on, two parallel redistricting processes unfolded in the state.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Through the spring and summer, legislators in charge of redistricting traveled the state holding public meetings at local colleges, soliciting comment and proposed maps from citizens — though the Republicans on the committee would not produce draft maps themselves.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We are not here to answer questions. We are not here drawing maps," state Senate redistricting committee chairman Bob Rucho told the crowd at a hearing in Durham. "What we are here for is to basically hear your thoughts and dreams about redistricting."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But that input had little influence on the districts that were eventually drawn.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, the real maps were being produced behind the scenes by a team that based its operations at Republican Party headquarters on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Armed with advanced mapping software, Hofeller and others crafted districts that would virtually guarantee big gains for the party.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hofeller did not attend or read transcripts of any of the public meetings, according to his deposition. Hofeller did not respond to requests for comment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A mysterious state dark money nonprofit that sprung up just in time for the process, called Fair and Legal Redistricting for North Carolina, hired a technician to operate the mapping workstation day-to-day, and another Republican mapping expert. The group did not respond to our requests for comment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State-based nonprofits have been a vehicle for Republicans to funnel anonymous money into their map-drawing operations in a number of states, including self-proclaimed nonpartisan groups in Michigan and Minnesota.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican state legislators tasked with redistricting frequently visited and consulted with the mapping team, according to depositions. Even Art Pope, the most influential conservative donor in the state, was appointed "co-counsel" to the legislative leadership and allowed in the room to give direct instructions to the technician.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We worked together at the workstation," said Joel Raupe, the technical expert paid by Fair and Legal Redistricting, in a deposition. "He sat next to me."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pope, who is a lawyer but does not actively practice, was made co-counsel to the state legislature, offering his services pro bono. Now, because he was technically a legal adviser to the state, he says any information about his involvement in the redistricting is privileged.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(The New Yorker had a sweeping profile of Pope last year, detailing how he has used his fortune to dominate North Carolina politics.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Carolina's Republican incumbents in Congress pushed for a so-called "10-3 map," the majority they hoped to win in the state's delegation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hofeller, the mapping expert, delivered. His maps kept most of the districts from being competitive — or even remotely winnable — for Democratic candidates.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A key part of the redistricting strategy was to push minority voters into three districts. Republicans insisted their maps were "fair and legal," necessary to conform to laws protecting minority voting rights, although according to a well-known voting rights attorney, the opposite is true.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But federal voting rights law "doesn't require a jurisdiction to pack blacks in districts," said Laughlin McDonald, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project. "If you tried to pack minority voters into a district, that would arguably be a violation."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In two of those districts, African-American incumbents been already been winning by large margins for years. Republicans' maps added yet more African-Americans to the districts, what's known in redistricting parlance as "packing." As Hofeller wrote in an email about one of the districts, the plan was to "incorporate all the significant concentrations of minority voters in the northeast into the first district."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A third district was 120-mile long, and sea monkey-shaped, connecting pockets of African-Americans from three different, distant cities. Republicans justified it on the basis of a common media market.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The maps were designed to "segregate African-American voters in three districts and concede those districts to the Democrats," says Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan public interest group that joined the lawsuit against the new maps.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2012, Democrats won the three districts by more than 70 percent of the vote. Another effect: the surrounding districts were much more Republican.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rucho and other Republican legislators had presented the maps as advantageous to Democrats. Indeed, registered Democrats actually outnumbered registered Republicans in seven additional districts beyond those that were clearly slated to be Democratic.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emails show Republicans decided to make that fact a major talking point.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the stat was misleading, as the Republicans' own data indicates. An internal analysis of one of Hofeller's later drafts (code name "Blue Horizon 3") obtained by ProPublica shows that those seven allegedly "competitive" districts would have been landslide wins for John McCain in 2008, and for Republican Senator Richard Burr in 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The carefully drawn maps worked. In this year's elections, Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in North Carolina won 50.6 percent of the total vote. But the state's House delegation now has nine Republicans and just four Democrats. One of the Democrats won by just a few hundred voters, despite the fact that his newly drawn district skewed heavily Republican and that his own home had been drawn out of it. North Carolina's delegation before the election had seven Democrats and six Republicans</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to his pay from national Republican groups, invoices show Hofeller billed North Carolina taxpayers $77,000 for his services.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republican maps are still under threat by suits filed by Democrats and the NAACP. The lawsuits are headed to the state Supreme Court. But a flood of contributions tied to the RSLC have lowered the risk of the maps' being overturned.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While judicial elections in North Carolina are nominally nonpartisan, it was common knowledge that Republicans held a 4-3 majority on the court. One of those Republican incumbents was facing a tough challenge in 2012, potentially throwing the whole redistricting result in jeopardy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Justice Paul Newby was running for re-election against appellate judge Sam Ervin IV, grandson of the famous North Carolina senator who investigated Watergate. With a few weeks left until the November election, Newby was trailing Ervin.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But then, in the final stretch, Newby was the beneficiary of a flood of late spending that can be traced back to the Republican State Leadership Committee.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Once again the contributions were funneled through homegrown groups. With only a few weeks to go, the RSLC gave more than $1.1 million to a group called Justice for All NC. Campaign finance filings show Justice for All NC in turn gave nearly $1.5 million to a super PAC running pro-Newby ads, the NC Judicial Coalition.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most of the money spent by the super PAC went to pay for hundreds of airings of a jingle ad featuring lines like, "Paul Newby / Justice tough but fair / Paul Newby / Criminals best beware" set to infectious banjo music.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The spending didn't end there: and Pope's fingerprints were also on the race. Two dark money groups affiliated with Pope — the state-based Civitas Action and Americans for Prosperity — spent another $300,000 on radio ads and mailers supporting Newby. Pope's company also gave to the RSLC in the run-up to this fall's elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pope says he gave money to Americans for Prosperity for years before the judicial race even came up, and that he was not involved in the decision to run pro-Newby ads.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm Republican, I support Republican groups," Pope said. "But just because you support something doesn't mean you're responsible for all they do."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was an unusually large amount of outside spending for a judicial race. The outside pro-Newby groups had spent more on the race than the two campaigns combined.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the end, Newby eked out a 52-48 victory, preserving the court's Republican majority.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the groups contesting the maps called for Newby to recuse himself from redistricting litigation, lawyers for Republican legislators argued that because the campaign ads were paid for by "independent" groups, they did not jeopardize Newby's impartiality.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, the state Supreme Court rejected the motion for Newby to recuse himself.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I've got no control over who contributes to an ad. I have no control over who endorses me," Newby — who did not respond to a request for comment — told a local TV station on the eve of the election. "You've got to put your blinders on like lady justice."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Josh Israel, Think Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">17 November 12</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed complaints Thursday with both the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleging that Karl Rove and his secretive Crossroads GPS violated election law and may have engaged in a criminal conspiracy to do so.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under campaign finance law and FEC regulations, 501(c)(4) groups, like Crossroads GPS, can raise unlimited funds from wealthy individuals and corporations without having to disclose their donors. The only time donors to these secretive groups must be disclosed is when donors give more than $200 explicitly "for the purpose of furthering an independent expenditure."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to CREW, Rove expressly asked for and received millions of dollars in contributions specifically to fund an independent expenditure effort in support of unsuccessful Republican Ohio Senate nominee Josh Mandel:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove’s defeat did not come from want of trying. Throughout the entire campaign, on the surface, he played the lofty pundit pontificating for Fox and the Wall Street Journal as if he had no role whatsoever in the campaign. But whenever one looked closely beneath the surface, one found the Mark of Rove. Under the radar, via his surrogates in the Romney campaign, Boss Rove orchestrated massive, multi-million dollar political ad campaigns that inundated the swing states with countless ads funded by his SuperPACs and “dark money” groups. He drummed up narratives portraying Obama as a latter day failed, weak, Jimmy Carter, and reawakening paranoid fantasies that suggested America still lived in the aftermath of 9/11, cringing in fear of the terrorist threat. In more than 30 states there were attempts at voter suppression—Jim Crow 2.0– in one form or another, a strategy Rove had begun to employ by 2004. In Ohio, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, who had worked on Rove’s Ohio campaign in ’04, did everything he could to limit early voting. Nathan Sproul [5], a former Rove operative, launched nationwide schemes to disenfranchise Democrats, but was investigated by authorities for electoral misconduct and voter registration fraud. And various electronic voting machine companies were suspected [6] of positioning themselves to rig the vote... alternet</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see new book boss rove: craig unger "Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power,"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ryan uses his strategy: attack them where strongest eg medicare</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">--</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in 2004, Karl Rove (then an unnamed source for journalist Ron Suskind) pejoratively called “‘the reality-based community’ which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'” Rove added -- that moment being the highpoint of Bush-era imperial self-celebration -- “We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">weekly st'd does not disclose his PAC http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/08/22/negligent-top-newspaper-editorial-editors-slam/189472</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Wall Street Journal's failure to disclose op-ed columnist Karl Rove's ties to political organizations raising hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat President Obama and other Democratic candidates is drawing harsh criticism from editorial page editors at America's top newspapers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even as he writes regular columns on the 2012 election for the Journal, Rove serves as what Vanity Fair calls "the defacto leader of the Republican Party." As the co-founder of the super PAC American Crossroads and its related organization Crossroads GPS, Rove is helping to assemble a massive war chest to run attack ads against Democrats this fall -- an obvious conflict of interest.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">--</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">craig unger "Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power," DN http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/22/boss_rove_how_karl_rove_went</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">one party state</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no gop in tx b/c conserv demos doing the job; used pacs, tort reform, went on PM payroll? ; strip club hurt RNC $; superpac</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ohio 2004 : smartech Chatanooga ; orig co funded by bill dewitt (fundraiser) reynolds balied out b2 oil; jeb, RNC; sec of state of ohio ken blackwell co-chair b2; server fails, votes shifted 6.7% diff between exit and "official" results (cf rove)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mike connell cyber guru hacked demos? rove's emails disappeared from smarttech</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">US atty 8 firing not as imp as what the rest did, prosc demos eg don siegelman (faces 8 yrs in jail) Gov Ala pros by rove's best friend's wife Canary; flipped TX and Ala sup ct</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove vs. the Koch brothers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By: Kenneth P. Vogel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">October 10, 2011 04:44 AM EDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove’s team and the Koch brothers’ operatives quietly coordinated millions of dollars in political spending in 2010, but that alliance, which has flown largely under the radar, is showing signs of fraying.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And with each network planning to dwarf its 2010 effort, Republicans worry that the emerging rivalry between the two deepest-pocketed camps in the conservative movement could undercut their party’s chances of taking the Senate and White House in 2012.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The billionaire industrialist brothers David and Charles Koch plan to steer more than $200 million — potentially much more — to conservative groups ahead of Election Day, POLITICO has learned. That puts their libertarian-leaning network in the same league as the most active of the groups in the more establishment-oriented network conceived last year by veteran GOP operatives Rove and Ed Gillespie, which plans to raise $240 million.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fault lines revealed themselves this summer, when the camps split on the highest-profile conservative movement issue of the day: The biggest groups in the Rove-Gillespie network supported House Speaker John Boehner’s bill to increase the debt ceiling and the Koch brothers’ primary political group, Americans for Prosperity, pressured conservatives to oppose it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=571964E7-AE37-425F-97C5-C2127CB1E566</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rfk2 rove owned 250K enron stock early 2001 while energy pol made; also BP, amoco, royal dutch shell 97 but involved in all decisons (scooter sold a bunch early</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">apr 12 2005 frontline</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the architect:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">given hillary's old office, policy and politics merge, in charge of 4 area</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">norquist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">saxby chamblis beat war hero lost legs 2002? [roger stone?]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">built tx gop from scratch; had own xx machine in sec of state --> mail list</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">50% attack, looked for anger pt eg tort reform covered by 60 Minutes!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">100% sweep of tex sup ct?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">phil gramm early client </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rove strategy is to attack opponent's strong points (eg Richards tolerant, so pro-gay; pattern repeated used surrogate or anoanymous</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">beat richards in 94, when he left, all tx state offices gop</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mccain won NH by 19, next SC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">vet said not backed on agent orange, gay issue won by 11</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">iraq war appropriation flipflop</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">swift boat DCI tony feather 2000 and 04 campaign</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gay marriage state measure in 11 states, fed constit amend prosed by bush; he had courted gay vote in earlier election; mobilized indiv churches</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dep chief of staff</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wants to rework am gov, so went after social security</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">highlight section lost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sm sein huffpo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Amazing Story Of Saxby Chambliss' Bum Knee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First Posted: 11-17-08 12:08 PM | Updated: 12-18-08 05:12 AM</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six years ago, Saxby Chambliss was able to win a seat in the United States Senate by deploying a series of highly personalized swipes at incumbent Democrat Max Cleland.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The attacks on Cleland's patriotism -- including running an ad that pictured the triple-amputee Vietnam veteran alongside Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden -- left a particularly bad taste in the mouths of observers, including Sen. John McCain, who called it "worse than disgraceful... reprehensible." Chambliss, after all, had never served in Vietnam. And the excuses he offered were so lame, he changed them on several occasions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most widely ridiculed yarn was that Chambliss' "bad knee" had kept him from serving.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I was determined not to be physically fit," he explained during a debate in August 2002. "I had a bum knee. I had an old football knee that unfortunately they wouldn't take me."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It seemed all too unbelievable. And, generally, it was. Chambliss had sought and received five student deferments from service in Vietnam. That he would, nevertheless, criticize Cleland's patriotism was a sharp dose of political chutzpah --- but one that ultimately worked.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Flash forward six years later and the dynamics of that race are in some respects being replayed once more. Chambliss currently finds himself in a runoff election against another Vietnam vet, Jim Martin, after neither candidate could secure 50 percent of the vote. John McCain, meanwhile, is campaigning on Chambliss' behalf, despite the harsh rebuke he offered during the Georgian's first run for higher office.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cleland, meanwhile, is not exactly willing to let bygones be bygones. In an interview with the Huffington Post late October, the former Senator insisted that this current election was not about him. But he painted Martin's candidacy as a true opportunity for Peach State voters to right a wrong.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The people in Georgia are still P.O.ed at the fact that [Karl] Rove and Ralph Reed and Chambliss and Bush, all of them have been totally discredited," he said. "People see [that the stuff in 2002 was a lie] and there is some regret out there that I am not still in the United States Senate. And so now they are taking that out in their support of Jim Martin who is a Vietnam veteran, who had a case of polio but overcame that to make sure he got into the military and serve in Vietnam. On the other side, you have Chambliss who got out of going to Vietnam with a trick knee."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, for Chambliss' critics, the notorious knee remains a symbol of the quibbles they have with the Senator: that the appearance he provides is removed from reality and that he has, at times, been an absentee Senator. Physical impairments aside, in October 2005, Golf Digest ranked Chambliss the #2 golfer in the Senate and the 33rd ranked golfer in Washington D.C. Sources close to Chambliss, in fact, once grew concerned that his reputation was suffering because of all the times he was spending on the links.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These sources didn't lack a legitimate reason. In a scathing column titled "Saxby Chambliss' Day Off," then-Roll Call reporter Mary Ann Akers wrote about how Chambliss once skipped work to play golf with Tiger Woods, while his colleagues held a closed door session in which they agreed to accelerate in inquiry into how the Bush administration handled intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Instead of being forced to talk about the uncomfortable issue of pre-Iraq war intelligence (or the lack thereof), Chambliss was 'the envy of golfers everywhere,' as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution put it," wrote Akers. "At least until he stepped up to what the newspaper called the club's 'unenviable first tee.' 'That was one of the more intimidating shots I have ever had,' the paper quoted Chambliss saying. 'Thank goodness it worked out.'"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"And thank goodness Chambliss, who sits on the Senate Select Intelligence and Armed Services committees, didn't have to suffer through the Democrats' tortuous questions about those elusive weapons of mass destruction and whether the Bush administration manipulated the truth and misled Congress into supporting the war."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/17/the-amazing-story-of-saxb_n_144307.html?view=print</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen1101.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove has practiced the same style of slash and burn politics as did his Nixonian mentor Segretti. Many of us remember the Lincolnesque Senator Ed Muskie breaking down in tears during the 1972 campaign over Segretti-planted false stories in a New Hampshire newspaper that accused Mrs. Muskie of being a heavy smoker, drinker, and cusser and accused Muskie of uttering a slur in describing New Hampshire's French Canadian population. Rove's hero also forged letters on fake Muskie campaign letterhead, disrupted rallies and fundraising dinners, and spread false stories about the sex lives of candidates. Segretti's brush also smeared George McGovern, George Wallace, Shirley Chisholm, and McGovern's first vice presidential choice, Senator Tom Eagleton. Segretti of course did not go on to a high-level White House job -- he was sentenced to six months in federal prison for distributing illegal campaign material.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tour http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0529,ridgeway,66005,6.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FALL 1970: Rove pays visit to Chicago campaign headquarters of Alan Dixon, a Democrat running for state treasurer. Disguised as a volunteer, Rove steals official campaign letterhead and sends out 1,000 invitations to people in the city's red-light district and soup kitchens, offering "free beer, free food, girls, and a good time for nothing" at Dixon headquarters. When hundreds of homeless and alcoholic Chicagoans show up at a fancy Dixon reception, Rove succeeds in embarrassing the candidate. Dixon still wins the election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1971: Rove drops out of college to devote full time to College Republicans, where he becomes protégé of dirty trickster Lee Atwater, the group's Southern regional coordinator. Rove becomes executive director, then national chairman.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1972: Under mentorship of dirty trickster Donald Segretti (who later went to jail for Watergate), Rove paints McGovern as "left-wing peacenik," in spite of McGovern's World War II stint piloting a B-24. Rove also works as staff assistant to George Bush Sr., then chairman of Republican National Committee (RNC).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1973: Rove introduces Atwater to Bush Sr. Atwater later becomes "political attack dog" for the Reagan-Bush team, helps Bush Sr. become president, himself becomes RNC chairman, is struck by a brain tumor, and dies [after apolgizing to victims].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AUGUST 10, 1973: The Washington Post says it received tape of Rove telling about some of his "dirty tricks." Rove is rumored to have participated in "dumpster-diving" (looking through opponents' trash for information to be used against them), crimes such as identity theft, petty larceny, and campaign fraud, and tours to teach other College Republicans how to perform these tricks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOVEMBER 1973: Rove first meets George W. Bush when Bush Sr. asks Rove to deliver a set of car keys to the younger Bush. Rove later recalls his initial impression: "Huge amounts of charisma, swagger, cowboy boots, flight jacket, wonderful smile, just charisma—you know, wow."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1976: Rove marries Houston socialite Valerie Wainwright.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1977-79: Rove starts raising money for Bush Sr.'s eventual presidential campaign, begins advising George W. Bush in his unsuccessful congressional bid, and as a Texan political consultant put it, has to "babysit Bush back when [he] was drinking."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1979: Wainwright divorces Rove.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1981: Rove's mother commits suicide. Rove forms direct-mail firm, Rove & Co., to back Republican candidates.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1982: Texas Republicans suffer heavy election losses. Rove, however, uses opportunity to develop campaign strategies targeting suburbs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1984: Rove helps ex-Democrat Phil Gramm win Senate seat as Republican.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1986: Rove marries Darby Hickson, a graphic designer for his company. Advises Bill Clement in his tight but successful Texas gubernatorial race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1988: Rove hits on "tort reform" as winning issue for Republicans. His candidates win five out of six open seats on the Texas Supreme Court.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1994: Rove becomes political adviser to George W. Bush in his race against incumbent governor Ann Richards. Bush aided by $1 million pumped into the race. Rove dreams up idea of staging calls to voters from supposed pollsters who ask such things as whether people would be "more or less likely to vote for Governor Richards if [they] knew her staff is dominated by lesbians."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000: Rove is at heart of Bush's vicious smear job on John McCain in South Carolina primary: Thinly disguised Bush surrogates claim McCain was a stoolie while a P.O.W. Rove also credited with spreading rumor that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter is black and illegitimate and his wife a drug addict.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000: Rove is required to sell his Enron stock before Bush takes office. Reportedly still holds between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of shares when appointed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2001: Rove launches "72-Hour Task Force" aimed at evangelicals, Hispanics, Catholics, and other faith-based groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JUNE 2002: A PowerPoint presentation Rove created to explain strategies for 2002 and 2004 elections is found without explanation in Lafayette Park. The presentation portrays war on terror as an important issue throughout the upcoming campaigns.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JULY 8, 2003: Syndicated columnist Robert Novak mentions to Rove that former ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA undercover operative. Rove's comment: "I heard that too."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JULY 14, 2003: Novak's syndicated column reveals publicly the classified information that, according to "two senior administration officials," Plame is an undercover CIA operative.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AUGUST 21, 2003: Wilson, who has already blamed Rove for the leak, says at a public forum in Seattle that he would like "to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OCTOBER 2004: FBI begins investigating the Plame leak. Rove testifies, but his attorney, Robert Luskin, says Rove has been "assured" by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that "he is not a target of the probe."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOVEMBER 3, 2004: In his victory speech, Bush calls Rove "the architect" of his re-election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FEBRUARY 2005: Rove is promoted to assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff, and senior adviser.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FEBRUARY 11, 2005: The Bush administration denies having had anything to do with the Swift Boat Veterans, who smeared John Kerry during the campaign and denounced his war stories as lies. But rumors persist when Rove pays tribute to the group at the Conservative Political Action Conference during the annual Ronald Reagan banquet in D.C.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colson works with o'neill to discredit kerry</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/usa/karl-rove/ w/ timeline Plame, Novak</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">book ch? http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=bill_israel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">slater Bush's Brain on Rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://books.google.com/books?id=Ig-aodIl-HUC&dq=bush%27s+brain&source=gbs_navlinks</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">s also video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.hulu.com/watch/149014/bushs-brain</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush Brain video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rove bugged own office in tex gov race Clements vs White (losing) 10 min on wall 2 hrs, removed (invest by rampton)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">true believer thus any means necessary</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">young rep tricks al Dixon stationery caper. 73 ran for chair (offical pos w/ GOP? paid? fracas, wuz robbed, G1 B1 recogniz Rove new RNC, angry ltr, hired KR 22 min</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mauro Tx land commis Greg Rampton, 2-3 HT guys went to JAIL INNOCENT? KR talked rick perry (--> gov) to change parties and run against hightower; all dems got invesitigated, but esp ag comm. fbi 2 elderly empolyees asked for Hightower, told to stop, but did not end (KR had info) parents died '92</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">whisper campaign against richards (lesbian) // McC south carolina (NH trouced B2)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MCC mil career attacked, crazy 3rd party ad, flyer on fund church before election, black love child on talk shows (Mo teresa orphanage in bangldesh), cindy Mccain drug addict </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">max cleland, sec of vet, ad tied to saddam and obama (voted agaist homeland sec 11x) acutally only agaist gop version vs demo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">saxby chamblis?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Plame 55 min</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Novak outed (KR fired from GB campaign for leaking to RNovak?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wilson served B1, niger yellowcake, plame WMD agent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">irqa war as pol ploy; war cabinet chickenhawks</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Karl_Rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">works with American Renewal, that went after tom dachle Big Lies 55</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">plame cia </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Treasongate:Beyond_Karl_Rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Going Dirty </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kitty duk accused of flag burning 201</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'80 atwater camp called Turnipseed commie, pushpoll,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'88 ferocious attacks on dole and kemp for Bush 203</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Early Rove cleint Gramm 204 denied cic rumor Ann R</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lesbian 204, bugged own phone</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part I</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ratfucking is an American slang term for political sabotage or dirty tricks. It was first brought to public attention during the Watergate scandal investigation that during the 1972 presidential campaign the Nixon campaign committee maintained a "dirty tricks" unit focused on discrediting Nixon's strongest challengers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Woodward and Bernstein, Nixon aide Dwight Chapin hired fellow USC alumnus Donald Segretti to run a campaign of dirty tricks (which Segretti dubbed "ratfucking") against the Democrats in 1972. The purpose of the operation was to create as much bitterness and disunity within the Democrat primary as possible. One notable example of Segretti's wrong-doing was a faked letter on Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie's letterhead falsely alleging that U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among the tactics were: canceling meeting-hall reservations just prior to rallies, putting out false press releases or "leaked documents" in the name of political opponents, spying on rival campaigns, putting plants into rival campaigns, purloining speeches and information, vote contracting, jamming phone lines, ordering vast quantities of food for delivery in the name of rival campaigns, hiring "rioters" and "activists, conducting deceptive or offensive get out the vote phone canvasses, push polls, and similar activities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before the 1972 election, Edmund Muskie was viewed as a frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Although Muskie won the Iowa caucuses and went on to win the New Hampshire primary, his campaign faltered. The collapse of Muskie's momentum early in the 1972 campaign is partly attributed to dirty tricks. Prior to the New Hampshire primary, the so-called "Canuck Letter" was published in the Manchester Union-Leader. The letter claimed that Muskie had made disparaging remarks about French-Canadians—a remark likely to injure Muskie's support among the French-Canadian population in northern New England.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FBI investigators later determined that the Canuck Letter was a forged document and was part of the Nixon dirty-tricks operation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Segretti recruited Karl Rove, the executive director of the College Republicans, to work in this dirty tricks campaign. In the fall of 1970, Rove had used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat Alan J. Dixon, who was running for Treasurer of Illinois. He stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead, printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing", and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters, with the effect of disrupting Dixon's rally.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From The Rise and Fall of Turd Blossom by Sidney Blumenthal (Salon, Aug 16 2007):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Rove conducted one session training young Republicans to sift through the garbage of opponents. In the Watergate scandal, Segretti was sentenced to prison for forging campaign literature. The FBI questioned Rove, but dropped its investigation of the small fry. Yet he would become the greatest "ratfucker" of them all."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a protégé of Segretti, Rove helped to paint Nixon opponent George McGovern as a "left-wing peacenik", in spite of McGovern's heroism during World War II piloting a B-24.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove held the position of executive director of the College Republicans until early 1973. He left the job to spend five months, without pay, campaigning full time for the position of national chairman of the organization. Lee Atwater, the group's Southern regional coordinator, managed Rove's campaign. The two spent the spring of 1973 crisscrossing the country in a Ford Pinto, lining up the support of Republican state chairs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The College Republicans summer 1973 convention was quite contentious. Rove's opponent was Robert Edgeworth. A number of states had sent two competing delegates, because Rove and his supporters had made credentials challenges at state and regional conventions. For example, after the Midwest regional convention, Rove forces had produced a version of the Midwestern College Republicans constitution which differed significantly from the constitution that the Edgeworth forces were using, in order to justify the unseating of the Edgeworth delegates on procedural grounds. In the end, there were two votes, conducted by two convention chairs, and two winners — Rove and Edgeworth, each of whom delivered an acceptance speech. After the convention, both Edgeworth and Rove appealed to Republican National Committee Chairman George H. W. Bush, each contending that he was the new College Republican chairman.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While resolution was pending, Terry Dolan, a supporter of Edgeworth, went (anonymously) to the Washington Post with recordings of several training seminars for young Republicans where Rove discussed campaign techniques that included rooting through opponents' garbage cans. On August 10, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, the Post broke the story in an article titled "Republican Party Probes Official as Teacher of Tricks."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 6, 1973, three weeks after announcing his intent to investigate the allegations against Rove, George H. W. Bush chose Rove to be chairman of the College Republicans. Bush then wrote Edgeworth a letter saying that he had concluded that Rove had fairly won the vote at the convention. Edgeworth wrote back, asking about the basis of that conclusion. Not long after that, Edgeworth has said, "Bush sent me back the angriest letter I have ever received in my life. I had leaked to the Washington Post, and now I was out of the Party forever."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As National Chairman, Rove introduced Bush to Atwater, who had taken Rove's job as the College Republican's executive director, and who would become Bush's main campaign strategist in future years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COMING SOON - Ratfucking with Lee and Karl</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Except as noted, all references are taken from Wikipedia.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ROVE</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Architect</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1st to conflate politics and policy,eg WHIG eternal campaign, deception and doubt p 5 becomes sop p4</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Abramoff is taking $ from indians to shut down other indians casinos, then charging group 2 to fix, then paying r reed to shut down gambling p 10 and etc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defund the left: take out funders and dismantle parts of gov't that serve poor and other demo constituets ([students?] p 12 also take out whatever sustains left ideology; inserted at every opp, eg Homeland security bill forbade unions or at least restrict p15</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wife says so competative she cries when he smacks her croquet ball on vacation 21</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1989 reed and pat r meet. Falwell's MM defunct. CC had incubator leadership and rapid response networks (phone fax, modem) 27 big advantage is physical: all in church at least 1x wk [and megachurches?]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">56 anti-sem (jews ang germans created communism pat rob quoting pat b</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PNAC neocons pro Israel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JUDICIAL</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kennedy alabama SC candidate, noprofit for abused kids (opponent H See, recruited by Biz Council). campaign on tort reform, got attn of Neal Cohen, Rove assoc, who created lawsuit abuse network. See side showed pix of Kennedy w kids, then used law school (kids from all over state) to start whisper/smear 41. sop is to attack positives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ken Mehlman protege at RNC, prolly gay but attacked them. rose quickly (field dir b2 2000, WH pol dir, 2004 election, rnc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Issue One in Ohio gay bash; sec f state blackwel did robocalls for, to he is in charge of election 127 (black, so helped penetration into AA churches)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr laura biological mistake, predators p 64</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Drudge accused kerry and edwards of being gay p 71</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kofman report of ME morale low got him outed 71</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Canton OH trimtab, so mayor helped invisibly by KR 78</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After 2000, KR relaized only got 15 or 19m white funds and prots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unpredented data gather and slicing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ID anget points 86</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in Ohio big TV buys were swiftboat and Progress for Am voter fund 527, became permanent 90</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PFA had website up for alito in 40 min 91 Gary Marx moved to Jud Confrim Network</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Iraq Gp rove heads, to mkt war, w scooter, pressed for war resolution 9/02, 2 mos before offyear election 91 (1stx in 100 years gop pres got midterm gains.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">p 100 phonics code word for back to basics vs dewey coddling of whole word.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rove took a shot at going back to school, took one? class on McKinley; front porch campign in fact sophist, sent 14 pieces of mail to every voter in 196 election 104, reaches out to worker immigtant demographic.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In ohio, strong union and w o mouth to neignbor, but gop shifted to demographics 113 eg church ; blend patriot, god and military</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bush campaign requested ppl to sendf their church directories 115 got busted. kerry turned out 1/2 mil new voters, but not enough to offset b2 50.7% 122</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOBBY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">health care 300m/yr bs trial lawyers 5 mil 142 tort gets worked into lots of bills, including ant0terorism. class ation sits moved to fed, tho already overwhelmed [cf new Supreme desicisin on wal-mart] blamed for high proce of (and anti-flu, mfg get blanket pass on all devices?! 183) health care drs on strike had spotty recs) 146 [even 60 min picked up?] in NJ 6% of drs had 60% of med mal suits 149. rates are based on region. W Va 250K caps means end, since experts are costly and evidence bar high 152 threat of strike got caps in 2 doz states 154</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UNION</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">made tougher reporting req (could cost 1 bil) 5k under order, but only 120 nt'l 162-3</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">yet DOL did not go after walmart for 85 violation of child labor (allowed to useangerous machinery)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 prong strategy to undemine unions 163, budget for enforecement cut. Not a conspiracy, tactic announced by Grover 164</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">one year break gone, so endless campaign to keep union? 165</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 mo ino ffice g2 igns 4 exec orders anti-u 165 (atc not gov't function) chao said wd work, but days later exec order; unions uted for minor stuff at same time worldcom and Enron free ride 167</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">afl-cio breaks up on campaigns, 53 mil lose overtime 169</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neal Cohen, Rove assoc 181 philip Mo wanted candidates in all 3 branches and KR had them, so 3K/mo retainer 1991 Cohen also on payroll thru his tort reform org; used as astroturf front "In order to be totally effective, the grasroots effort must appear to be spontaneous rather than a coordinated effort" 181 [multinat'l Monitor www mar 2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tex lawsuit on HMO aty Ted Olson 184, recused himslef a couple days before brief filed b/c his fim on both sides?! Scalia said HMO do not practice medicine;basically the ruling was buy better insurance 15. states rghts pres 86's 'em 186.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Ledeen under doug feith Rome mtg (ART, pro-israel pprs) , ~ all treaties including oslo, abm etc. w/ rums, shulsky created office of Special Plans to ~ CIA intl on Iraq. 189 overseen by VP pal Luti (scarier than ollie). ML wants to work w/ murderers; brike billygate story Libiya in New Rep w Borchgrave (--> Wa times)/ OSP was amateur hour, academics and contractors doing war planning; luti direct conn to VP 204 unprecedented; vetting info that other agencis hs trashed, picking the rottten cheries" 204. Forged docs leaked to berlusconi panorama (ledeen worked there too?), repoter rejected, ordered to deliver to USA embassy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove helped abramoff get richer, and he got gop pols to do what WH wanted (apparently Delay not a pal/team player?) 210</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 election reverse of LBJ in terms of congress and governors 211 KR moved office to next to oval. campaign staffers moved out into infrastruture 213</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Simon Rosenberg interview mar 2005: "Look, the conservatives invested billions and bilions in alternative infrastructure beause they had neither the United STates government not any other ways to communicate their values. Thay built a mgnificent machine to communicate, and they used it to tke over the government of our country. They have a very robust infrasructure, and we have neither government or infrastructure. Too many of our answers as Democrats have een tactical and not understanding that the game has been changed. We have to do that by doing some investing of our own" [!}</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aftr elections, 527 could coordinate (more) w. bush, and Prog fro Am sold the social sec privacy issue, also by Compass (CoC, run by Terry Nelson b2 nat pol director. compass spent 20 mil, incl on APCO, run by Neal Cohen (w/ rove since early 90's) 217. at RNC mehlman says we have war room etc. supported by USA Next, which used swift boat tactics and ppl (lacivitas and rick reed sic. had ~ AARP ad w/ guys kissing 218 chls Jarvis</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">post katrina blame game (state and locals were dems) msg picked up by Fox</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ed gill rove acolyte 232</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">delay laundered $ out for himself, a bully, so rove used abramoff to run him 236 (anb reed and grover CR pals, buten ussr flag abe says not to coixist w/ left "our job is to remove them power permanently" 236. JA exec asst Susan Ralston wetn to WH to wrok for KR, hired exstaffer Scanlon; had access to staffers to VP, AG, sec Int, trade reps 237 200 mtgs in 10 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JA paid Copely News Service col Doug Bandow 2K/art'l 240 (aslo a CTT guy, who does it all the time" 241 //to armstrong? on ed puff pieces?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">randy duke cunningham took kickbks from 2 def contractors 242 set up culture of corruption charge 243</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mel Sembler, US amb to italy during niger deal? raised $ for scooter defense (docs cabled direct to WH) and routed to DIA, not CIA. recruited kmp, forbes, fred thomp, alan simpson, woolsey, jeane kirk. libby did jail time, then hired by Hudson 267 PENSION [checkcrimes vs CTT regnery]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">after abramoff went down, KR et al scambled to round up all pix w/ B2 (NYT found one w/ rove, ja and indians) 271</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a card leaves, bolten demotes KR (or to concentrate on 04 fight) replaced by joel kaplan BBR</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lots of details on plame </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">etc 236</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PLAME</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/1/01 breakin to niger embassy got letterhead and stamps</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nearly al the neocons lost clearances b/c of leaks eg to israelis 195</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">boho</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1970, as a protégé of Donald Segretti (later convicted as a Watergate conspirator), Karl Rove sneaked into the campaign office of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon and stole some letterhead, which he used to print fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing," and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters. Rove admitted the incident years later, saying "I was nineteen and I got involved in a political prank." Rove learned at age nineteen, during his parents' divorce, that the man who raised him, a mineral geologist, was not his biological father. Rove's mother committed suicide in Reno, Nevada, in 1981. Rove dropped out of the University of Utah in 1971 to become the Executive Director of the College Republican National Committee and held this position until 1972, when he became the National Chairman (1973-1974). In this role, Karl Rove had access to powerful politicians and government officials of the Republican party, and formed ties with George H. W. Bush, then Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1973-1974). For the next few years, Rove worked in various Republican circles and assisted George H. W. Bush's 1980 vice-presidential campaign. Rove is credited for introducing Bush to Lee Atwater, who would go on to play a critical role in Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. Like Atwater, Karl Rove is well known for his effective campaign tactics, employing push polls and frequently attacking an opponent on the opponent's strongest issue. In 1981, Rove founded direct mail consulting firm, Karl Rove + Company, based out of Austin, Texas. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This firm's first clients included Republican Governor Bill Clements and Democratic Congressman Phil Gramm, who later became a Republican Congressman and United States Senator. In 1993, Rove began advising George W. Bush's gubernatorial campaign. He continued, however, to operate his consulting business until 1999, when he sold the firm to focus his efforts on Bush's bid for the presidency. In 1986, just before a crucial debate in the election for governor of Texas, Karl Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by the Democrats</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that bug's battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped. Critics alleged that Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor's race. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove is thought to be behind misleading Swift Boat Veterans for Truth television ads that quoted Kerry as saying U.S. military personnel in Vietnam "had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads," "randomly shot at civilians," and "razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan," without Kerry's qualification that he was reporting what others said at a Vietnam veterans' conference, and not what Kerry had personally witnessed. Another ad from SBVT accused Kerry of lying to win his Vietnam combat medals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">George W. Bush called Rove the "architect" of his 2004 Presidential Campaign in his 3 November 2004 acceptance speech. Rove has been accused of pulling many other dirty tricks over the years. In March 2001, Rove met with executives from Intel, successfully advocating a merger between a Dutch company and an Intel company supplier. Rove owned $100,000 in Intel stock at the time. In June 2001, Rove met with two pharmaceutical industry lobbyists. At the time, Rove held almost $250,000 in drug industry stocks. On 30 June 2001, Rove divested his stocks in 23 companies, which included more than $100,000 in each of Enron, Boeing, General Electric, and Pfizer. On 30 June 2001, the White House admitted that Rove was involved in administration energy policy meetings, while at the same time holding stock in energy companies including Enron. June 23, 2005, marked another controversial statement from Rove. "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," said Mr. Rove at a fund-raiser in New York City for the Conservative Party of New York State. Presently embroiled in controversy concerning his involvement in revealing the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame, allegedly in retaliation for her husband's criticisms of the administration.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bossrove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/28/13</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unger, craig 2012 scribner</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">newsweek, fox wsj</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">white house percs to give, eg visits, build rolodex</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scotus legit b2 election 2000, also CU allowed perm gop p3 schumer says one of 3 or 4 scotus that undermine democ (bigtime) p 4 KR never mentions; of 5justices , 3 b1&2</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">post CU teamed w/ ed Gill, ex RNC chr, 527 up in 2 wks; onw mo 30 mil 4x RNC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">weaver; mostly operative, but also mary cheney, norm coleman, malek, Am act network, rnc chair duncan, fmr cochr, haleyb, steen j law uscoc (2009 coc lobby$ 120m$, 5x #2 exxon)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">allied w/ aan, am action forum, resurgent republic, rwep state leadership comm; Biz Ind pol actuon comm greg casey; mirror of soros Democ Alliance, // to RNC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">boy read milton f nat rev, goldwater memorabilia p8 Hanna handler of McKinley hero (most expensive campaign to date) 9</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">smarTech oddities post 11:14; millions of emails lost;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2005 house Jud comm invest of 2004 election “massive and unprecedented” irreg 18 raised “grave doubts”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">YR foe said rove taught dirty trick courses, invest by fbi; b1 sent angry lettter and hired KR 21</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR rose slow (tho atwater protege, not liked); phil gramm win 84 and direct mail to Reagan campaign 84 put own xx machine in Tex sec of state office 22</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">made hay w/ obscure unsexy tort reform; Ala dr got 4m$ from bmw b/c acid rain hurt paint; 23 cash cow and wedge issue; in 80's Tx sup ct dems and favored plaintiff; kr reversed; perry, simmons, harte, nau 25 44 tort bills; tort helped client Pmorris, so $ for b2</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kr got b2 to read olasky, jqw, etc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1994 push poll gov richards lez, had 67% approval, spoken of as pres cand vs b2 had never won, but he beat by 8 pts 33</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">chat choo choo led to fibre optic lines; mike cunnyngham bought smartech; voter vault dB microtarget, could call? All 110 m houses in US 1 day; best spam ever; 38 built by mike Connell ; model voter turnout to preceinct level; david horo, armey, kasich, boehner wetc taft gov ohio New Media co fla IT contracts; new media joined DCI RNC NRA, liddy dole, barbour, griffith & rogers, b2 jeb</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">synhorst had ten co's in Az alone;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">b2 routed in NH by McC so he had to be destroyed in SC (mo teresa baby) 44 fad cand, wife on drugs, crazy pow smears by synhorst (worked in b2 gov camp)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DCI called KR Central, astroturf, pushpolls “dark arts” 45 DCI could generate letters, even w/ handwritten ps sig // to Horo 2000 pamphlet art of pol war: destroy fighting ability 45.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">heather? Wife synhorst spun GovTech as nonpart woman owned, but run by mike and synh</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">connell pal Barry Jackson gov tour for b2 w/ kr, worked w/ ed gill on astroturf (Brooks)11/22 disrupted recount; mercer reynolds 400K$ amb switz; bill dewitt on bd also wife 47</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">govtech: ike pense, delay led to contracts for comms; smartech gave email to evade rules records</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ch4 b2 WH ppl had know knowledge of policy ad no desire to learn 51 just pure politics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR invited to Ala to redo tex judic makeover; used u ala law school; w/ scotus, can do favors for big corps</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bill canary pol op paratrooper, wife Leura Garrett C power couple 53 did tort reform 8:1; alice marin and leaura AG</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Siegelman protege of anti-war, star of anti-wallce dems; won gov landslie, only dem; 1st gov toback gore;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Jill Simpson built law practice on storm gypsies; did ops res for KR; she tailed DS; he had been invest in bid rig but dropped; leura reoopened; clear conflict of Intr; Riley gop gov opp raed about indictments (theree were none?); FBI invest DS donors; b2 and DC stumped for riley; AP called for DS, 99% precinct reporting; rove aide and rnc kelly mccullogh caled riley and said no concede; vote # changed; law said wait period to cert, but AG Pryor did anyway, and said anyone who broke seal broke law (obscure), no point in going to gap state scotus; riley worried about rematch, but cabary said his girls wd take him out 61 w/ KR, who called simpson a lunatic; said his name was not in 143pp depos, but actually in 50x</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ch 5 war on terr helps gop</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR is unnamed source of reality-based quote; 66</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">neocon rhetor Michael Ledeen, billy carter Z3 AEI, ollie north introed to arms dealer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Niger yellow cake 500 tons?! NIE declass to trash joe w; DC said not aware of mission but had sent him? KR close w/ novak 20 yrs from Tx pal of david broder</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">govtech sec of state ohio fallover site; blackwell evangelical</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">diebold ez hack; gave 195K gop; eo pledge to deliver votes; gop state sen asked to not use diebold but blackwell did anyway 88 (40 of 88 counties in 2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rove at boho grove (rummy, casy, kissenger in past0 89 wilde 1882</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">remarked on welldressed and fed bohos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ashcroft recuse as longtime KR cleint</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 DS indicted; preB2 only few WH ppl could talk to DOJ, but huge increase b2 106</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000-03 200 pols n bribery etc inventigations; mayos of 15 big city; gov, lt gov, sens and cans; ALL DEMS 107 (actially 15% gop)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2002-5 18 convictions re voting ineleigible out of 120 votes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connell new Media made swift boat site 112</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rather prouducer mary mapes had broke abu ghraib (rather had done tough interview of b1 1988 as vp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">col killian said tought to sugercoat b2 bad actions as nat guard plot</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">harry macdougal said forgeries b/c font too new (not tried; KR organized blogger attack on dan; protege dan bartlett wrangled ex-guard in defense.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">W/ mark hearne, kr did voter suppress (65 lawsuits in diff state to challenge) ; caging; gop dB had 225 datapoints</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR lawyer Bob Luskin of patton boggs; if rove nailed for outing NOC plame cd change outcome of election</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Jud comm saidr 3300 vote irreg in Ohio; thousands of absentess ballots req but not sent; threw out ballots ot on right card stock, even tho his office gave out some that were not; blackwell led effort to mobilze xians w/ KR 128</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">record turnout, 5.6 mill 65%; 15hr waits; 27 of 30 gop prec had good? Macines; 6 of 7 dem wards fewest machines; kenyon college 2 for 1300 voters, 11 hr wait; nearby xian college no wait; mightytex strike force in theory gotv but intimidate, liked to KR 131</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12:21 cnn exit polls showed kerry up by 4; 17 min later KR said cooked.win; 3 min later Fox called for B2</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10 of 11 battle states votes differ from exit poll, al for b2</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">all 14 cty after 11:14 suspect, none before</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in pct 1806, obscure white nationalist got 10x votes as b2 (95% for gore)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DS judge mrk Fuller, appt b2, univ ala alum w/ simpson and riley; ds donor subpoenas; rico charges for coffee mug (samples?); charged w/ taking 500K$ from richard scrushy for lottery capaign xge for seat on state health bd 9that wd allow no coruoption? Unpaid gig? Also gave $ to opponent; witness biley coached in 70 mtgs, memorized; fuller a pol op, had camp against DS; fuller co did mil contracts, got 178mil$ just as trial was about to start; jury deadlocked, so jusge used Allen charge which bias to guilt; thretned to sequester for 1 yr 170 88 mos in jail; flown to mult states, manacled, incommunicado; clean latrine in LA gag order; mr2008 out on bond (sent june 2007)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Conyers subpoena KR but cited exec priv, took q from Tx lamar 9 pg doc; voted to contempt of congr</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AG scandal directed by WH</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vs B2 146 donors got gigs w/ over 100K$ 159</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">post katrina, KR gave itter talking pts; blame dem mayor nagin and gov; KR oversaw $200m in releif/ to some to bechtel and haliburton 161</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">b2 fired 8 atty g (10?) 12/06 iglsias domenici; ark grifftin KR protege</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">84 cts against dem coroner, incl 3.20 in postage, 24 cts of using fax for pvt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR asst jennings used nongov email about griffin, RNC; dana perino said only a few had them but 88 did, incl andy c, KR mehlman; 5 mil emails 2003-5 lost; 4 yras of KR gone; only 130 saved from 1st term; eventually 22 mil found? Hosted by smartech; I semed to continue to delete after knew they were wanted? 178</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">saxby chamb won w/ rigged vote? 2002; conell asked spoon how to delete email? 181 for WH</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new ohio sec of state[blackwell? husted?] found bigtime shred; 56 of 88 destroyed unused ballots tho ordered not to b/c essential to find fraud; 184</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR threatened Connell? 191 wife up on RICO</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hse jd comm found KR involved in AG frings</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">/CU mayflower lunch w/ s law and ed gill.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Am act net same office gps</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">afp claimed 2 mil ppl but 8K; ran TP ad against lobbying 213</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR cord w/ koch, 60 plus etc;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gop found it working for fox, not vv; all cands confer w/ roger a cf gawker ailesfiles</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bristol palin ex fiance playgirl, dtr by other wo breeze beretta; palin said n korea our ally, const based on bible and reverse warned brits; did not know who thatcher was;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fox pays so well that pundits delay announce running; palin got special pass; 5mil/yr, 1 m from fox</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR picked off non romney cands; had statred perry as agr comm (v hightower); cain radio tak?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iowa newt had 13 pt lead, even by election day, came in 4th</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR called for romey 2 a, tho santorum ahead on fox, then next day in WSJ; 2 weeks later truth out</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So caro dirty tricks on newt (asked wife to abort)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Forti rove pals restore our fut; ed left gps to mitt camp; beth meyers mitt office wife protege of kr; stuart stevens and h barbour on bd, so key ppl were KR's</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kochs have 200m$ to rt cands 3.6M$neg ads BO Am Energy Alliance/IER</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kochs laundreds thru RW nra, grover, rreed 60 plus, Am's Fut fund; walker 1st gov to survive recall?! 243</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">june 2012 scotus refused to hear DS, tho 113 ex-AG asked 243</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR got Voter Vault; year before election attack eliz warren, tim kaine, claire mckaskell, tester Montana; USCoC ~ sherrod brown OH</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR ran neg BO adf, got earned /free media = to paid, but fox ran on 7 shows in 24 hrs BO the cleb cand; prised by dana p at fox</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KR lost it atacked jill simpson out of blue; but she never met bob Bauer (BO) and he never her lawyer 249 re DS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stone says long game for control of GOP 252 endit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Atlantic Home</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove in a Corner</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KARL ROVE IS AT HIS MOST FORMIDABLE WHEN RUNNING CLOSE RACES, AND HIS SKILLS WOULD BE NOTABLE EVEN IF HE USED NO EXTREME METHODS. BUT HE DOES USE THEM. HIS CAMPAIGN HISTORY SHOWS HIS WILLINGNESS, WHEN CHALLENGED, TO EMPLOY SAVAGE TACTICS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Joshua Green</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is the close races that establish the reputations of great political strategists, and few have ever been closer than the 2000 presidential election. From the tumult of the lengthy recount, the absentee-ballot dispute, the charges of voter fraud, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court decision, George W. Bush emerged victorious by a margin of 537 votes in Florida—enough to elevate him to the presidency, and his chief strategist, Karl Rove, to the status of legend.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the 2000 election was not Rove's closest race. That had come earlier, and serves as a greater testament to his skill. In 1994 a group called the Business Council of Alabama appealed to Rove to help run a slate of Republican candidates for the state supreme court. This would not have seemed a plum assignment to most consultants. No Republican had been elected to that court in more than a century. But the council was hopeful, in large part because Rove had faced precisely this scenario in Texas several years before, and had managed to get elected, in rapid succession, a Republican chief justice and a number of associate justices, and was well on his way to turning an all-Democratic court all Republican. Rove took the job.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most important candidate among the four he would run that year was a retired judge and Alabama institution by the name of Perry O. Hooper, of whom it is still fondly remarked that in the lean years before Rove arrived he practically constituted the state's Republican Party by himself. A courtly man with an ornery streak and a stately head of white hair, Hooper seemed typecast for the role of southern chief justice, a role he hoped to wrest from the popular Democratic incumbent, Ernest "Sonny" Hornsby.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time, judicial races in Alabama were customarily low-key affairs. "Campaigning" tended to entail little more than presenting one's qualifications at a meeting of the bar association, and because the state was so staunchly Democratic, sometimes not even that much was required. It was not uncommon for a judge to step down before the end of his term and handpick a successor, who then ran unopposed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All that changed in 1994. Rove brought to Alabama a formula, honed in Texas, for winning judicial races. It involved demonizing Democrats as pawns of the plaintiffs' bar and stoking populist resentment with tales of outrageous verdicts. At Rove's behest, Hooper and his fellow Republican candidates focused relentlessly on a single case involving an Alabama doctor from the richest part of the state who had sued BMW after discovering that, prior to delivery, his new car had been damaged by acid rain and repainted, diminishing its value. After a trial revealed this practice to be widespread, a jury slapped the automaker with $4 million in punitive damages. "It was the poster-child case of outrageous verdicts," says Bill Smith, a political consultant who got his start working for Rove on these and other Alabama races. "Karl figured out the vocabulary on the BMW case and others like it that point out not just liberal behavior but outrageous decisions that make you mad as hell."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Throughout the summer the Republican candidates barnstormed the state, invoking the decision at every stop as an example of "jackpot justice" perpetuated by "wealthy personal-injury trial lawyers"—phrases developed by Rove that have since been widely adopted. To channel anger over such verdicts toward the incumbent Democratic justices, Rove highlighted their long-standing practice of soliciting campaign donations from trial lawyers—just as Republicans (which Rove did not say) solicit them from business interests. One particularly damaging ad run by the Hooper campaign was a fictionalized scene featuring a lawyer receiving an unwanted telephone solicitation from an unseen Chief Justice Hornsby, before whom, viewers were given to understand, the lawyer had a case pending. The ad, and the unseemly practices on which it was based, drew national attention from Tom Brokaw and NBC's Nightly News.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The attacks began to have the desired effect. Judicial races that no one had expected to be competitive suddenly narrowed, and media attention—especially to Hooper's race after the "dialing for dollars" ad—became widespread. Then Rove turned up the heat. "There was a whole barrage of negative attacks that came in the last two weeks of our campaign," says Joe Perkins, who managed Hornsby's campaign along with those of the other Democrats Rove was working against. "In our polling I sensed a movement and warned our clients."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Newspaper coverage on November 9, the morning after the election, focused on the Republican Fob James's upset of the Democratic Governor Jim Folsom. But another drama was rapidly unfolding. In the race for chief justice, which had been neck and neck the evening before, Hooper awoke to discover himself trailing by 698 votes. Throughout the day ballots trickled in from remote corners of the state, until at last an unofficial tally showed that Rove's client had lost—by 304 votes. Hornsby's campaign declared victory.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove had other plans, and immediately moved for a recount. "Karl called the next morning," says a former Rove staffer. "He said, 'We came real close. You guys did a great job. But now we really need to rally around Perry Hooper. We've got a real good shot at this, but we need to win over the people of Alabama.'" Rove explained how this was to be done. "Our role was to try to keep people motivated about Perry Hooper's election," the staffer continued, "and then to undermine the other side's support by casting them as liars, cheaters, stealers, immoral—all of that." (Rove did not respond to requests for an interview for this article.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The campaign quickly obtained a restraining order to preserve the ballots. Then the tactical battle began. Rather than focus on a handful of Republican counties that might yield extra votes, Rove dispatched campaign staffers and hired investigators to every county to observe the counting and turn up evidence of fraud. In one county a probate judge was discovered to have erroneously excluded 100 votes for Hooper. Voting machines in two others had failed to count all the returns. Mindful of public opinion, according to staffers, the campaign spread tales of poll watchers threatened with arrest; probate judges locking themselves in their offices and refusing to admit campaign workers; votes being cast in absentia for comatose nursing-home patients; and Democrats caught in a cemetery writing down the names of the dead in order to put them on absentee ballots.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the recount progressed, the margin continued to narrow. Three days after the election Hooper held a press conference to drive home the idea that the election was being stolen. He declared, "We have endured lies in this campaign, but I'll be damned if I will accept outright thievery." The recount stretched on, and Hooper's campaign continued to chip away at Hornsby's lead. By November 21 one tally had it at nine votes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The race came down to a dispute over absentee ballots. Hornsby's campaign fought to include approximately 2,000 late-arriving ballots that had been excluded because they weren't notarized or witnessed, as required by law. Also mindful of public relations, the Hornsby campaign brought forward a man who claimed that the absentee ballot of his son, overseas in the military, was in danger of being disallowed. The matter wound up in court. "The last marching order we had from Karl," says a former employee, "was 'Make sure you continue to talk this up. The only way we're going to be successful is if the Alabama public continues to care about it.'"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Initially, things looked grim for Hooper. A circuit-court judge ruled that the absentee ballots should be counted, reasoning that voters' intent was the issue, and that by merely signing them, those who had cast them had "substantially complied" with the law. Hooper's lawyers appealed to a federal court. By Thanksgiving his campaign believed he was ahead—but also believed that the disputed absentee ballots, from heavily Democratic counties, would cost him the election. The campaign went so far as to sue every probate judge, circuit clerk, and sheriff in the state, alleging discrimination. Hooper continued to hold rallies throughout it all. On his behalf the business community bought ads in newspapers across the state that said, "They steal elections they don't like." Public opinion began tilting toward him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The recount stretched into the following year. On Inauguration Day both candidates appeared for the ceremonies. By March the all-Democratic Alabama Supreme Court had ordered that the absentee ballots be counted. By April the matter was before the Eleventh Federal Circuit Court. The byzantine legal maneuvering continued for months. In mid-October a federal appeals-court judge finally ruled that the ballots could not be counted, and ordered the secretary of state to certify Hooper as the winner—only to have Hornsby's legal team appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which temporarily stayed the case. By now the recount had dragged on for almost a year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When I went to visit Hooper, not long ago, we sat in the parlor of his Montgomery home as he described the denouement of Karl Rove's closest race. "On the afternoon of October the nineteenth," Hooper recalled, "I was in the back yard planting five hundred pink sweet Williams in my wife's garden, and she hollered out the back door, 'Your secretary just called—the Supreme Court just made a ruling that you're the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court!'" In the final tally he had prevailed by just 262 votes. Hooper smiled broadly and handed me a large photo of his swearing-in ceremony the next day. "That Karl Rove was a very impressive fellow," he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the decade since, the recount and the court battle have faded into obscurity, save for one brief period, late in 2000, when they suddenly became relevant again. Almost as if to remind Al Gore's campaign of Rove's skill when faced with a recount, the case was revived in a flurry of legal briefs in the Supreme Court case of Bush v. Gore—including one filed by the State of Alabama on behalf of George W. Bush.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This summer, with the presidential race looking as if it would be every bit as close as the one in 2000, I spent several months examining the narrowest races in Karl Rove's career to better understand the tendencies and tactics of the man who will arguably have more influence than anyone else over how this election unfolds. Rove has already generated a remarkable body of literature, including several notable books and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. I spoke to many of Rove's former candidates and their opponents; to his past and present colleagues and the people who faced off against them; and to political insiders and journalists—primarily in Texas and Alabama, where Rove has done the majority of his campaign work. I learned much about Rove that hasn't made it into the public sphere.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the striking things about his record is how few close races Rove has been involved with—primarily because he usually wins in a walk. In the relatively rare instances when he is in a tight race, he tends to win that, too. Although Rove first rose to political prominence as a specialist in direct-mail fundraising (and worked on hundreds of races in that capacity), mail is only one facet of a campaign, and rarely the deciding factor. So I focused on races in which Rove was the primary strategist, and therefore in a position at least roughly analogous to the one he holds in this presidential race. The last strategist before Rove to win a Republican presidential election was his former colleague Lee Atwater, who by the time of the 1988 campaign had a career record of 28—4. To my knowledge, no one has calculated such a figure for Rove. As far as I can determine, in races he has run for statewide or national office or Congress, starting in 1986, Rove's career record is a truly impressive 34—7.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The mythologizing portrayals of a "boy genius" that characterized so much media coverage of Rove after 2000, and especially after the Republicans' triumphant sweep in the midterm elections, struck me as sorely out of date when I began this project. The Bush Administration was suffering through the worst of the fallout from the Abu Ghraib scandal, and the President's approval ratings were plummeting. Clearly, there are many differences between the circumstances in which Rove has been victorious in the past and those he faces now. But that is no reason to discount his record. By any standard he is an extremely talented political strategist whose skill at understanding how to run campaigns and motivate voters would be impressive even if he used no extreme tactics. But he does use them. Anyone who takes an honest look at his history will come away awed by Rove's power, when challenged, to draw on an animal ferocity that far exceeds the chest-thumping bravado common to professional political operatives. Having studied what happens when Karl Rove is cornered, I came away with two overriding impressions. One was a new appreciation for his mastery of campaigning. The other was astonishment at the degree to which, despite all that's been written about him, Rove's fiercest tendencies have been elided in national media coverage.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats who want to feel sanguine about the coming election might well find comfort in the particulars of Rove's career. Several of his usual advantages are lacking this time around, conspicuously in geography. As a direct-mail consultant, Rove worked for races across the country, in blue states as well as red. The nature of that work mostly entailed identifying conservatives and motivating them to donate money—a fine skill for one in his current position as Bush's chief strategist, but not the equivalent of running a campaign. Rove compiled his stellar record in Texas and Alabama—and, of course, in the 2000 presidential election, even if his candidate lost the popular vote. During the period in which he rose to power, both states, deeply conservative, were transitioning from a firmly Democratic electorate to a firmly Republican one. A charge frequently levied against Rove by beleaguered Democratic consultants in Texas and Alabama is that he merely "surfed the wave" of the demographic change. This ignores his political talent. It's true, though, that for most of his career Rove has enjoyed a kind of home-field advantage, and in this election he does not.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A surprising number of Rove's former colleagues believe that his unprecedented success in Texas, where for years his candidates rarely faced serious challenges, has fostered what in the boxing world would be known as a "tomato-can" syndrome. Like a heavyweight champion who lets down his guard after beating up a series of hapless "tomato-can" opponents, Rove, they fear, may have been blinded to current national realities by hubris. "I think Karl's success in Texas is almost a hindrance," a veteran strategist who worked with him in that state told me. "The rest of the country doesn't emulate Texas in terms of voting behavior. But sometimes you see his southern roots in Texas and his experience in Alabama kind of overtake him, and he seems to think the United States is one big-ass Texas."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several consultants pointed to the issue of gay marriage, which one described as a perfect Texas wedge issue because it would attract culturally conservative Democrats in the eastern part of the state—"the rednecks," as he put it—who are normally the key to winning statewide office. But he doubted that the issue would have the same effect in the less conservative battleground states that are expected to decide this election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove is also riding on less of a decisive financial advantage than the one he normally enjoys. In their book Bush's Brain, James Moore and Wayne Slater explain how Rove's success as a fundraiser provided the impetus for his move into political consulting, and how, once established in that capacity, he consolidated his power by controlling candidates' access to major donors, usually ensuring that his clients were better funded than their opponents. This enabled him to engage in what amounted to asymmetric warfare against anyone who challenged his candidates. The authors recount an anecdote in which Priscilla Owen—then a Houston judge, later a controversial Bush appointee to the federal bench—approached a rich Republican donor whose job it was to vet candidates, and explained that she was thinking about running for the Texas Supreme Court. "Have you talked to Karl Rove?" he inquired. Taking the hint, she replied, "No, but I plan to." After Rove agreed to support her, she won handily, outspending her opponent. A similar imbalance applied in 2000, when Bush outspent Gore by a wide margin. But this year John Kerry's extraordinary and unexpected ability to raise money has largely closed the gap.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It will come as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to the current campaign that Rove's most notable tendency in close races has been to go negative against his opponent, early and often. One of the first highlights of his career was the famously tight 1986 Texas governor's race, in which his candidate and mentor, the Republican oilman Bill Clements, sought to oust the Democratic incumbent Mark White. The race is legendary in Texas political lore for Rove's discovery that his office was bugged—news of which, coincidentally or not, distracted attention from an evening debate in which his candidate was expected to fare poorly. More pertinent to the current campaign is a strategy memo Rove wrote for his client prior to the race, which is now filed among Clements's papers in the Texas A&M University library. Quoting Napoleon, the memo says, "The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though it is forever fashionable to denounce negative campaigning, every political expert understands that it can be extremely effective. Rove's career has borne this out perhaps better than any other modern political consultant's. But his very success leaves him precariously positioned if Bush stalls or founders. Once a negative course is set, it is nearly impossible to change; the perpetrator is usually stained for good. Furthermore, Rove's method is to plot out elaborate strategies well in advance of the campaign, and stick to them vigilantly. John Deardourff, Rove's media consultant for races in Texas and Alabama, says, "This rap Bush has of never changing his mind and never admitting a mistake—that's Karl! That's where it comes from." It is a tribute to Rove's strategic skill that he is so often right.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Throughout his career Rove has been able to stage-manage races to an extraordinary degree. This is possibly his least appreciated skill. The most revealing time in his career was 1994, when Rove fought more close races than in any other year, and managed to dictate the dynamic in every one of them. He pulled off highly unlikely upsets for Perry Hooper in Alabama (a race overwhelmingly about trial lawyer excesses) and George W. Bush in Texas (a race dominated by Bush's platform of welfare, juvenile-justice, tort, and public-school reform). However impressive, all but one of his races have been conducted at the state level, and thus have been comparatively insular affairs, unimpeded by the glare of the national media or a troublesome global issue like violence in Iraq—both of which could threaten Rove's ability to control this race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the rare instances when he has failed to set the terms of debate, Rove hasn't fared nearly so well. Four years ago, in a race to succeed Hooper, who was retiring as Alabama's chief justice, Rove lined up support from a majority of the state's important Republicans behind his candidate, an associate justice named Harold See. Like most of Rove's clients, See had an enormous financial advantage and ran a brutally negative campaign—but he was nonetheless trounced by Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judge, who succeeded in making the race about religion. This loss may have helped Rove to recognize the power of religion as a political motivator: from the question of gay marriage to organizing churches for Bush, it features prominently in his playbook for the current election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If there is any compelling reason to think that Rove may be out of his depth in this election, it is an odd lacuna in his storied career: no one I spoke with could recall his ever having to run an incumbent in a tough re-election race. This is partly a by-product of his dominance. Rove's power in Texas was such that he could essentially handpick his candidates, and once elected, they rarely lost. And he spent most of his career in the favorable terrain of the Deep South. One reason Rove was spared re-election fights is that as demographic changes swept across the South, and Republicans in Texas and Alabama began displacing Democrats, the likelihood that a Democrat could depose a sitting Republican became remote. Rove has long excelled at knocking off incumbents in tight races. Now, at last, he must defend one.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite all this, there are significant reasons to believe that Rove can pull it off this time. One is his prior experience in close races. Another is his preparedness and attention to detail, to which any discussion with a longtime Rove colleague invariably turns. "The thing that was most important to him was the mechanics: making certain that the campaign could block and tackle," recalls a staffer who worked for Rove's direct-mail firm in the 1980s and 1990s. Rove would typically begin a race by constructing seven-layer spreadsheets of the electoral history of a particular office, charting where votes for each candidate had originated and which groups had supplied them. In the 1980s these data led Rove to conclude that his candidates ought to target "ticket-splitters"—Texans who supported Ronald Reagan for President but voted Democratic in downballot races.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove's direct-mail experience had provided him with a nuanced understanding of precisely what motivates ticket-splitters. According to Karl Rove & Co. data on the 1994 Texas governor's race, Rove was aware, for instance, that households that received a single piece of mail turned out for Bush at a rate of 15.45 percent, and those that received three pieces at a rate of 50.83 percent. Turnout peaked at seven pieces (57.88 percent), after which enthusiasm for Bush presumably gave way to feelings of inundation, and support began to drop.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove's thirst for efficient advantage extended even to marketing. According to a former employee, rather than use costly dinners and Dallas Cowboys tickets to draw clients' attention, as other consultants did, Rove affixed antique stamps (though not valuable ones) to the weekly financial summaries he mailed to clients; he would send workers to estate sales to hunt out supplies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Rove arrived in Alabama, in 1994, his clients were initially puzzled as to why he was having them campaign in rural and less populated parts of the state rather than the urban areas they were accustomed to. It turned out that he had run an electoral regression analysis on each of the state's sixty-seven counties, and for efficiency's sake he put his four judicial candidates together on a bus trip to the counties with the highest percentage of ticket-splitters. "Karl got us focused on the fact that it was a matter of convincing Democratic voters who were already conservative to vote for Republican candidates," Mark Montiel, a candidate on the trip, explains, "because that was who best expressed their views."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among Rove's other innovations was a savvy use of language, developed for speaking to the conservative base about judicial races. Candidates were to attack "liberal activist judges" and to present themselves as "people who will strictly interpret the law and not rewrite it from the bench." A former Rove staffer explained to me that the term "activist judges" motivates all sorts of people for very different reasons. If you're a religious conservative, he said, it means judges who established abortion rights or who interpret Massachusetts's equal-protection clause as applying to gays. If you're a business conservative, it means those who allow exorbitant jury awards. And in Alabama especially, the term conjures up those who forced integration. "The attraction of calling yourself a 'strict constructionist,'" as Rove's candidates did, this staffer explained, "is that you can attract business conservatives, social conservatives, and moderates who simply want a reasonable standard of justice."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As with direct mail, Rove was skilled at reaching specific voter segments with television commercials, buying air time only during programs that he believed would attract the audience he was trying to reach. In his Alabama races he was known particularly to withhold advertising from The Oprah Winfrey Show and similar afternoon programming—"trimming a media buy," as it is known in the trade. Bill Smith, who worked on a series of close races with Rove in Alabama, says, "There's a real overlap in what he specialized in professionally and what you need to do in a tight race." Whether he is seeking donors in a direct-mail fundraising campaign or manipulating a particular demographic sliver to win a close race, Rove's professional goal has been strikingly consistent: to reach the right people.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How Rove has conducted himself while winning campaigns is a subject of no small controversy in political circles. It is frequently said of him, in hushed tones when political folks are doing the talking, that he leaves a trail of damage in his wake—a reference to the substantial number of people who have been hurt, politically and personally, through their encounters with him. Rove's reputation for winning is eclipsed only by his reputation for ruthlessness, and examples abound of his apparent willingness to cross moral and ethical lines.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the opening pages of Bush's Brain, Wayne Slater describes an encounter with Rove while covering the 2000 campaign for the Dallas Morning News. Slater had written an article for that day's paper detailing Rove's history of dirty tricks, including a 1973 conference he had organized for young Republicans on how to orchestrate them. Rove was furious. "You're trying to ruin me!" Slater recalls him shouting. The anecdote points up one of the paradoxes of Rove's career. Articles like Slater's are surprisingly few, yet as I interviewed people who knew Rove, they brought up examples of unscrupulous tactics—some of them breathtaking—as a matter of course.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A typical instance occurred in the hard-fought 1996 race for a seat on the Alabama Supreme Court between Rove's client, Harold See, then a University of Alabama law professor, and the Democratic incumbent, Kenneth Ingram. According to someone who worked for him, Rove, dissatisfied with the campaign's progress, had flyers printed up—absent any trace of who was behind them—viciously attacking See and his family. "We were trying to craft a message to reach some of the blue-collar, lower-middle-class people," the staffer says. "You'd roll it up, put a rubber band around it, and paperboy it at houses late at night. I was told, 'Do not hand it to anybody, do not tell anybody who you're with, and if you can, borrow a car that doesn't have your tags.' So I borrowed a buddy's car [and drove] down the middle of the street … I had Hefty bags stuffed full of these rolled-up pamphlets, and I'd cruise the designated neighborhoods, throwing these things out with both hands and literally driving with my knees." The ploy left Rove's opponent at a loss. Ingram's staff realized that it would be fruitless to try to persuade the public that the See campaign was attacking its own candidate in order "to create a backlash against the Democrat," as Joe Perkins, who worked for Ingram, put it to me. Presumably the public would believe that Democrats were spreading terrible rumors about See and his family. "They just beat you down to your knees," Ingram said of being on the receiving end of Rove's attacks. See won the race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of Rove's darker tactics cut even closer to the bone. One constant throughout his career is the prevalence of whisper campaigns against opponents. The 2000 primary campaign, for example, featured a widely disseminated rumor that John McCain, tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, had betrayed his country under interrogation and been rendered mentally unfit for office. More often a Rove campaign questions an opponent's sexual orientation. Bush's 1994 race against Ann Richards featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record—when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be quoted criticizing Richards for "appointing avowed homosexual activists" to state jobs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another example of Rove's methods involves a former ally of Rove's from Texas, John Weaver, who, coincidentally, managed McCain's bid in 2000. Many Republican operatives in Texas tell the story of another close race of sorts: a competition in the 1980s to become the dominant Republican consultant in Texas. In 1986 Weaver and Rove both worked on Bill Clements's successful campaign for governor, after which Weaver was named executive director of the state Republican Party. Both were emerging as leading consultants, but Weaver's star seemed to be rising faster. The details vary slightly according to which insider tells the story, but the main point is always the same: after Weaver went into business for himself and lured away one of Rove's top employees, Rove spread a rumor that Weaver had made a pass at a young man at a state Republican function. Weaver won't reply to the smear, but those close to him told me of their outrage at the nearly two-decades-old lie. Weaver was first made unwelcome in some Texas Republican circles, and eventually, following McCain's 2000 campaign, he left the Republican Party altogether. He has continued an active and successful career as a political consultant—in Texas and Alabama, among other states—and is currently working for McCain as a Democrat.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But no other example of Rove's extreme tactics that I encountered quite compares to what occurred during another 1994 judicial campaign in Alabama. In that year Harold See first ran for the supreme court, becoming the rare Rove client to lose a close race. His opponent, Mark Kennedy, an incumbent Democratic justice and, as George Wallace's son-in-law, a member in good standing of Alabama's first family of politics, was no stranger to hardball politics. "The Wallace family history and what they all went through, that's pretty rough politics," says Joe Perkins, who managed Kennedy's campaign. "But it was a whole new dimension with Rove."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This August, I had lunch with Kennedy near his office in Montgomery. I had hoped to discuss how it was that he had beaten one of the savviest political strategists in modern history, and I expected to hear more of the raucous campaign tales that are a staple of Alabama politics. Neither Kennedy nor our meeting was anything like what I had anticipated. A small man, impeccably dressed and well-mannered, Kennedy appeared to derive little satisfaction from having beaten Rove. In fact, he seemed shaken, even ten years later. He quietly explained how Rove's arrival had poisoned the judicial climate by putting politics above matters of law and justice—"collateral damage," he called it, from the win-at-all-costs attitude that now prevails in judicial races.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He talked about the viciousness of the "slash-and-burn" campaign, and how Rove appealed to the worst elements of human nature. "People vote in Alabama for two reasons," Kennedy told me. "Anger and fear. It's a state that votes against somebody rather than for them. Rove understood how to put his finger right on the trigger point." Kennedy seemed most bothered by the personal nature of the attacks, which, in addition to the usual anti-trial-lawyer litany, had included charges that he was mingling campaign funds with those of a nonprofit children's foundation he was involved with. In the end he eked out a victory by less than one percentage point.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kennedy leaned forward and said, "After the race my wife, Peggy, was at the supermarket checkout line. She picked up a copy of Reader's Digest and nearly collapsed on her watermelon. She called me and said, 'Sit down. You're not going to believe this.'" Her husband was featured in an article on "America's worst judges." Kennedy attributed this to Rove's attacks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When his term on the court ended, he chose not to run for re-election. I later learned another reason why. Kennedy had spent years on the bench as a juvenile and family-court judge, during which time he had developed a strong interest in aiding abused children. In the early 1980s he had helped to start the Children's Trust Fund of Alabama, and he later established the Corporate Foundation for Children, a private, nonprofit organization. At the time of the race he had just served a term as president of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect. One of Rove's signature tactics is to attack an opponent on the very front that seems unassailable. Kennedy was no exception.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of Kennedy's campaign commercials touted his volunteer work, including one that showed him holding hands with children. "We were trying to counter the positives from that ad," a former Rove staffer told me, explaining that some within the See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile. "It was our standard practice to use the University of Alabama Law School to disseminate whisper-campaign information," the staffer went on. "That was a major device we used for the transmission of this stuff. The students at the law school are from all over the state, and that's one of the ways that Karl got the information out—he knew the law students would take it back to their home towns and it would get out." This would create the impression that the lie was in fact common knowledge across the state. "What Rove does," says Joe Perkins, "is try to make something so bad for a family that the candidate will not subject the family to the hardship. Mark is not your typical Alabama macho, beer-drinkin', tobacco-chewin', pickup-drivin' kind of guy. He is a small, well-groomed, well-educated family man, and what they tried to do was make him look like a homosexual pedophile. That was really, really hard to take."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this year the lone Democrat on the Alabama Supreme Court announced his retirement. There's an excellent chance that on Election Day the court will at last become entirely Republican.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Almost from the beginning Karl Rove has signaled that he expects a close 2004 election, and he has run George W. Bush's re-election effort accordingly. While John Kerry's campaign has made an extraordinary effort to gather moderate voters to his liberal base by stressing its candidate's decorated war record and centrist views, Rove—in contrast to 2000's invitingly gauzy message of "compassionate conservatism"—has returned to his traditional strength: motivating the base of conservative voters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush's campaign has naturally focused on the battleground states, but Rove's strategy can be decoded by looking at the targets of emphasis within those states. They are predominantly solid Republican areas such as Pensacola, Florida, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Rove's gambit is to improve Bush's margins in places where the President fared well in the 2000 election, just enough—a few points higher among Catholics, evangelicals, Hispanics—to prevail once more. To achieve this he is following the lessons of tight races past, buying television time in solidly red Fargo, North Dakota, because the airwaves also reach the neighboring swing state of Minnesota, and in solidly blue Burlington, Vermont, so as to draw a few more voters to Bush in the battle for New Hampshire, next door.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rather than soften Bush's appeal to reach moderates, Rove, as he has done throughout his career, is attempting to control the debate by expertly spotlighting issues sure to inspire his core constituency: the drive for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, the pronouncements about love of country, the unremitting attack against anything in an opponent that seems impregnable. All these tactics stand out in Rove's most memorable past victories.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Privately, Rove has been challenged and even denounced for his approach. A common refrain I heard from Republican consultants a few months ago was that his approach is foolish, because for the sake of an ideologically intense campaign, Rove is ceding to the Democrats the moderates Kerry is pursuing. And, these consultants fear, it puts Bush in jeopardy of seeing outside events decide the race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But an interesting thing happened as I worked on this piece. Early in the summer, as Bush was struggling, even Rove's allies professed to doubt his ability to control the dynamics of the race in view of an unrelenting stream of bad news from Iraq. Several insisted that he was in over his head—with an emphasis that seemed to go deeper than mere professional envy. Yet by August, when attacks by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were dominating the front pages, such comments had become rarer. Then they died away entirely.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If this year stays true to past form, the campaign will get nastier in the closing weeks, and without anyone's quite registering it, Rove will be right back in his element. He seems to understand—indeed, to count on—the media's unwillingness or inability, whether from squeamishness, laziness, or professional caution, ever to give a full estimate of him or his work. It is ultimately not just Rove's skill but his character that allows him to perform on an entirely different plane. Along with remarkable strategic skills, he has both an understanding of the media's unstated self-limitations and a willingness to fight in territory where conscience forbids most others.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove isn't bracing for a close race. He's depending on it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article available online at:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/11/karl-rove-in-a-corner/303537/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The Atlantic Monthly</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TWO</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see rove main, tag, crossroads main and gps tag</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">how much of a role in fork #3?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">barbour memo:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Going Backwards</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Shifted Carbon Dioxide Emissions Policy After Lobbyist's Letter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Christopher Newton</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON When President Bush reversed his campaign stance on regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, he said the nation's energy problems – not pressure from energy industry lobbyists – changed his mind.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents released by the Bush administration Thursday in response to a court order shed light on the intense pressure the new president was under.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two weeks before Bush's decision, lobbyist Haley Barbour virtually papered the White House, from Vice President Dick Cheney on down, with a memo suggesting the president must provide a sound energy policy by not taking action against carbon dioxide.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time, Barbour represented the interests of several energy companies that gave substantially to Bush's campaign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"A moment of truth is arriving," Barbour wrote Cheney on March 1, 2001, in a two-page document on his lobbying firm letterhead that was copied into top White House officials and three Cabinet secretaries.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore," Barbour stated.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Commerce Department released a copy of the memo Thursday in a court case brought by the conservative group Judicial Watch, which is suing the Bush administration for records about White House energy policy. The memo was one of thousands of pages of documents released by the departments of Commerce, Energy and Transportation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Late Thursday, White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said Bush was not unduly influenced by the energy industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The president based his decision on what he believes is right for all Americans and has pursued the most aggressive initiative in American history to cut power-plant emissions as well as embarking on a new strategy for addressing global climate change," Orr said. "The president makes his decisions based on merit."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the memo, Barbour said he was "demurring" on the idea of whether regulating CO2 emissions was "eco-extremism."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But "we must ask, do environmental initiatives, which would greatly exacerbate the energy problems, trump good energy policy, which the country has lacked for eight years?" said the former RNC chairman.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among Barbour's 50 lobbying clients at the time was an industry coalition, the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council. The lobbying group – which paid Barbour's firm a half-million dollars last year – was set up by power-generation companies including FirstEnergy, Duke Energy and the Tennessee Valley Authority.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FirstEnergy was a top contributor to the Bush campaign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As part of his presidential campaign, Bush proposed a "four-pollutant strategy" for curbing mercury, smog-causing nitrogen oxide, sulfur and carbon dioxide. The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Christie Whitman, embraced the strategy, but references to it were removed at the last minute from Bush's first address to a joint session of Congress.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then in mid-March of last year, Bush changed course.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"For the eight years of the Clinton administration environmental policy prevailed over energy policy," Barbour said in his signed memo to Cheney, with copies to Karl Rove, Bush's top political strategist; chief of staff Andrew Card; Commerce Secretary Don Evans; Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham; and Interior Secretary Gale Norton.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The documents released Thursday also revealed constant contact between Evans and corporate energy executives regarding the Bush administration's energy policy. Evans, the former head of an oil and natural gas company, helped Bush raise a record amount of money during the 2000 presidential campaign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the documents, Evans personally responded to letters from top officials at Great Northern Properties, Hunt Energy Services, Fusion Power Associates and Barrett Resources Corp.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Great Northern Properties sent the Commerce Department a full analysis of what should be done to bolster the coal industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Associated Press</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rolling Stone article on White House global warming denial ...www.whistleblower.org › rolling-stone-article-on-white...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oct 26, 2018 — ... House global warming denial links Cooney to V-P's office and Rove ... to Cooney's manipulative policing of federal climate change science ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: 'Climate Is Gone' – ThinkProgressarchive.thinkprogress.org › karl-rove-climate-is-gone-1...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nov 4, 2010 — “Climate is gone,” said Rove, the keynote speaker on the opening day ... from man's global warming pollution, the permanently warmer Arctic is ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: Fighting climate change is useless because 'we'll ...www.youtube.com › watch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dec 13, 2015 — Climate change includes both global warming driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rolling Stone Breaks Climate News! - Columbia Journalism ...www.cjr.org › behind_the_news › rolling_stone_breaks...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jul 5, 2007 — ... climate science and the threat of global warming. Dickinson brings some new information to light - including evidence that Karl Rove “vetted” ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate Change: Politics versus Science of Global Warming ...www.kcrw.com › news › shows › to-the-point › climate...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nov 9, 2010 — After last week's elections, Karl Rove told a conference of shale-gas developers not to worry about efforts to limit greenhouse pollution.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush Aide's Celebrity Meeting Becomes a Global Warming ...www.nytimes.com › 2007/04/23 › washington › 23rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apr 23, 2007 — Recriminations and finger-pointing continued the day after an argument over global warming between Sheryl Crow and Karl Rove.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six Years of Deceit: Inside the Bush Administration's Secret ...www.rollingstone.com › politics › politics-news › six-y...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jun 28, 2007 — Bush's do-nothing policy on global warming began almost as soon as ... Cooney – and vetted by Rove – insists that the Climate Action Report ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove Gets Thrown Under the Stop Global Warming Bus ...www.huffpost.com › entry › karl-rove-gets-thrown-un...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apr 22, 2007 — Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With climate change, we need commonsensewww.registerguard.com › story › editorials › 2020/10/18</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oct 18, 2020 — The 2012 Republican platform mentioned climate change once, in scare ... But even Karl Rove has said that ridiculing climate science to ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fracking Karl Rove to Pa.: "Climate is gone"www.inquirer.com › philly › blogs › attytood › Frackin...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nov 3, 2010 — Rove said a new Republican House of Representatives supportive of the energy industry "sure as heck" would not pass climate-change ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[mckinley on front porch is BS?]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 121</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hours after President Biden declared that "democracy has prevailed" during his inaugural address, longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove urged Republicans to pressure GOP election officials and legislators to create "a model election code" to reconsider the laws surrounding 2020's two voting options that lead to the presidential election's record turnout.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Republicans should also encourage GOP secretaries of state and state lawmakers to develop a model election code," Rove wrote in a January 20 commentary for the Wall Street Journal entitled, "The Republican Future Starts Now."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The job of proposing electoral reforms shouldn't be based on the unsupported claims of widespread fraud peddled by Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell," Rove continued. "Instead, the goal should be to suggest measures that restore public confidence in our democracy. How do states with extensive mail-in and early voting like Florida and Texas get it right?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove's commentary comes as Republican-majority legislatures in battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona have proposed bills or convened hearings to review the laws that allowed people to vote with mailed-out ballots or early in-person in 2020.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Whenever Karl Rove writes a piece in the Wall Street Journal, the history of it suggests that Democrats should pay careful attention," said David Daley, author of Unrigged: How Americans are Battling Back to Save Democracy. "Because the Wall Street Journal is where Republicans can signal to their donor class their key projects."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In March 2010, Rove penned a Wall Street Journal commentary openly discussing the GOP's REDMAP project, which targeted 107 state legislative seats that "would give them control of drawing district lines for nearly 190 congressional seats." REDMAP succeeded, creating GOP majority legislatures and congressional delegations in the otherwise purple states of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Alabama.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The website of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which drafts model bills for social conservatives and economic libertarians, did not yet promote election reforms on its website. However, it linked to the Conservative Action project, which posted a defense of the GOP lawmakers who opposed certifying the Electoral College slates from Arizona and Pennsylvania. The expanded use of voting via mailed-out ballots and early voting must be examined, it said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The 2020 election was conducted in an unprecedented manner: largely by mail, and in a way that overwhelmed the capacities of many states. It is not at all unreasonable to review the manner in which votes were counted," said the Conservative Action Project memo, which was signed by more than 100 activists and organizations. "Indeed, if the goal is to restore faith in future elections, then a comprehensive review and analysis to determine what went wrong, what went right, and what is in need of reform should be a critical next step."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daley, whose prior book, Ratf*cked, profiled REDMAP and its impacts on the past decade's political battles and extreme politics, said Rove's commentary was a warning sign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Whenever Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal, it not to be a public intellectual but to put ideas in front of the Republican donor class," he said. "It fits perfectly with much of the Republican strategy on voter suppression."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"So much of it sounds reasonable," Daley continued, referring to the suggestion that a model election code be developed and embraced. "How can you be opposed to a blue-ribbon bipartisan commission that is going to step back and ensure that our elections are free, fair and secure? Except, that's not actually their intention, because we just had an election that was free, fair and secure. And [Sens.] Hawley and Cruz and 130-plus Republicans in the House voted to decertify [the popular vote results and Electoral College slates from] Pennsylvania and Arizona—even after a Republican governor [in Arizona] signed off on certification."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Already, Republican legislators in 2020 battleground states held hearings where they are badgering statewide election officials—some elected Democrats, some career civil servants—about decisions they took last fall that made it easier to vote with absentee ballots.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, on Thursday in Pennsylvania, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, was pressed by Republican representatives advising county election officials to count the returned mailed-out ballots of people who forgot to put their ballots in a secrecy sleeve. The state's supreme court subsequently ruled that the "naked" ballots should be disqualified.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"You disagree with the decision that was rendered by the Supreme Court?" Rep. Ryan McKenzie, a Republican, asked Boockvar.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It doesn't matter whether I disagree with a decision rendered by the Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court's rule governs," she replied. "But what I would say is, and maybe this is part of your question, do I think that is the right approach for voters for making sure that every eligible voter's vote counts? No, I'd love to see the legislature change that law and say, 'Look, if a voter makes a mistake that does not have anything to do with their eligibility or their qualifications, such as a naked ballot, that vote should still count."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Thursday legislative hearing was one of 14 that are slated in Pennsylvania to review voting laws and administrative rules that were in effect during the 2020 election. A separate GOP-sponsored proposal would create districts for electing state supreme court judges. If put into effect, it could become a judicial gerrymander to recast Pennsylvania's appellate courts—including the state's supreme court.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These steps and others, such as Republicans in Wisconsin (and Pennsylvania) talking about changing the way their states choose presidential electors, or Georgia possibly turning the secretary of state from an elective to an appointed office filled by the legislature, seek to change the laws so Republicans can win elections, Daley said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Republicans talk a lot about following the rule of law, but what they are trying to do is change the law to make it make it easier to do in 2024 what they were unable to do in 2020," he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daley said Rove's push to review ballot access laws after an election where no evidence of fraud was provided by Trump's allies—despite 65 lawsuits—posed a longer-term threat to representative government than the pro-Trump mob that attacked the Capitol.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In 2020, there were two mobs that attacked the Capitol," he said. "One mob did it with baseball bats, Trump flags and Camp Auschwitz shirts. And they tried to overturn an election through fear and terror and insurrection. And then there was the mob that wore tailored suits and congressional pins that walked in after that [first] mob, while there was still blood in the hallways and bullet holes in the walls, and they voted not to certify free and fair results from Pennsylvania and Arizona. They gave that mob everything that they showed up for."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We need to be more fearful of that second mob," Daley continued. "Because they remain inside the House. They have been elected to the rules so that if this happens again, with better lawyers making the cases, they will have statutes that they can rely on to press fraudulent claims of election fraud."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republicans' so-called 'evidence' of voter fraud is already ... ›</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican-driven investigation into Florida 'voter fraud' comes up ... ›</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Microsoft employees raise alarm about donations to GOP senators ... ›</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans are right; election fraud is real. They are perpetrating it. ›</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Man accused of pretending to be dead mom to vote for Trump ... ›</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Carolina Republican operative charged in election fraud ... ›</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gop reclamation civil war? trying to relev/player again?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/republican-election-fraud/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/this-isnt-going-to-happen-top-gop-operative-throws-cold-water-on-trumps-claims-of-voter-fraud/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">as President Donald Trump and his allies desperately try to push the narrative that the election that's slipping away from him is actually being stolen via voter fraud, a longstanding top operative in the Republican Party threw cold water on the suggestion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove, the former adviser to George W. Bush, wrote a blog post on Thursday describing the state of the race. His overall analysis seemed to generally match the consensus view of election analysts at the time — votes in key swing states remain outstanding, but results look increasingly favorable for Joe Biden — though he didn't explicitly lay out that Trump is on a track to lose. He even put a negative spin on his analysis for Biden, arguing that his campaign did nothing to lift up down-ballot Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But in one notable paragraph, he sharply broke with the president and his allies who are concocting baseless claims about voter fraud to cast doubt on the results and drum up legal challenges to the process.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The level of voter fraud needed to turn the election around for Trump, Rove explained, is just not plausible:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are suspicious partisans across the spectrum who believe widespread election fraud is possible. Some hanky-panky always goes on, and there are already reports of poll watchers in Philadelphia not being allowed to do their jobs. But stealing hundreds of thousands of votes would require a conspiracy on the scale of a James Bond movie. That isn't going to happen.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Democrats have been worried about reports that the post office — deliberately or otherwise — delayed delivery of a substantial number of mail-in ballots, they haven't been making sweeping claims about fraud that would undermine the final election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those claims are coming from the Trump camp — which strongly suggests they think they're losing. It's notable that Rove, of all people, isn't on board for this gambit.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Karl Rove is an expert on fake voter fraud scandals," said HuffPost reporter Arthur Delaney. "He was involved in firing US Attorneys for not prosecuting bogus voter fraud cases, a disgrace that led to the resignation of the Attorney General."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omfg baaaaaaccckkk!?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/the-terrifying-return-of-karl-rove-a-republican-character-assassin-joins-trumps-team/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">digby</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There have been many rumors in recent weeks that the Trump campaign is starting to disintegrate. This is not surprising. All you have to do is read Trump’s Twitter feed to see that the president does not like bad news and he will kill any messenger who brings it to him. Lately, there has been a whole lot of bad campaign news.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times has reported that Trump has been getting so angry at the decaying poll numbers that he yelled at campaign manager Brad Parscale and threatened to sue him during a heated phone call. (Parscale reportedly replied, “I love you too,” and flew up to Washingon right away to mend fences.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, the polls have not been looking good for Trump, but then they haven’t looked very good his entire term. An impeached president whose approval rating has always hovered around 42% doesn’t have a lot of room for error to begin with. Now that he’s shown what a disastrous leader he is in a crisis, there very little prospect that it’s going to improve.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Naturally, Trump blames his campaign operatives for this because he will never accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Parscale has been just a bit too high-profile recently, even getting celebrity treatment from the New York Times, which is the sort of thing that makes the boss very angry. He doesn’t like to share the spotlight, particularly with someone who seems to be making buckets of money while working for him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Never Trumper PAC known as The Lincoln Project yanked Trump’s chain with that information this week, running another one of its ads pointedly designed to get under the president’s thin skin.[vids death star ]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">setting aside the macabre tastelessness of calling your campaign operation the “Death Star” while your candidate is recklessly mismanaging a runaway epidemic that has killed close to 100,000 of his own people, even as a pop-culture reference it’s absurdly off-base. Does Parscale know that things didn’t end well for the Death Star?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Parscale has cultivated a close relationship with Jared Kushner, the son Trump never had, so he’s probably safe. But you never know with Trump. His 2016 campaign cycled through a number of campaign operatives, some of whom are now either in prison or awaiting sentencing. There have been whispers that Trump might bring back Corey Lewandowski or Steve Bannon, but Javanka never cared for either of them so they’re probably off the table. If things get really desperate, I suppose he can always pardon Roger Stone and Paul Manafort and bring them back on board.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sad fact is that Trump’s options are limited. While the entire Republican establishment has not just capitulated to Trump but now eagerly supports him, it’s interesting to note that so many high-profile GOP campaign strategists have gone the other way. There simply aren’t very many experienced people Trump can call for help.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But there is one guy: Karl Rove, the man they used to call “Bush’s Brain,” whom George W. Bush affectionately dubbed “Turd Blossom.” Rove has backed away from active campaigning in recent years, preferring to drop his pearls of wisdom on Fox News and advise the dark-money super PAC American Crossroads, which he founded back in 2010. But reports this week suggest that despite Trump’s antipathy for the Bush family, Turd Blossom may be back in the saddle, advising Trump on how to salvage those swing states he sees slipping away.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to NBC News, Rove has been quietly worming his way into the campaign for some time:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has consulted Rove since the 2018 midterm elections, per three people familiar with the discussions. Before the pandemic, Rove had advised the Trump campaign it could be modeled, in some ways, after the Bush 2004 re-election race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course he did. He certainly wouldn’t want to remind anyone of his total meltdown on Fox News on election night in 2012, when he refused to accept that Republican nominee Mitt Romney had lost Ohio, and with it the election, insisting that his own numbers were more reliable. Romney’s family had to call and tell Rove to back down so the candidate could concede with some measure of dignity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, Rove is a perfect addition to the Trump team. For all his reputation as a “data guy” and number-cruncher, he’s really just an old-fashioned Republican character assassin. The New York Times has reported that Rove had a recent meeting with Trump and warned him “that he had fallen behind in the task of damaging [Joe] Biden, people familiar with the meeting said.” That’s the kind of tactic in which Rove specializes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove first came to national attention as George W. Bush’s campaign manager in 2000. According to James Moore and Wayne Slater’s book “Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential,” Rove was personally behind one of the most scurrilous episodes in GOP campaign history. He allegedly came up with the infamous push poll used in South Carolina to undermine support for Sen. John McCain with outright racist innuendo: “Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But then, Rove was a Lee Atwater protégé, so what else would one expect?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crudely tearing down the opponent isn’t the only way in which Rove is particularly suited to be a Trump adviser. He was always exalted among the Beltway press for his supposed genius in figuring out that you should attack your opponents on their perceived strengths. For instance, the Bush campaign attacked John Kerry over his Vietnam War record in the 2004 election, when that was considered Kerry’s ace in the hole. In reality, Rove was always projecting his own candidate’s weaknesses onto his opponent. In that election, Bush had had to contend with the fact that he had started a useless war in Iraq and had himself dodged the draft, so the campaign’s best recourse was to make Kerry look like a liar and a coward.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I hardly have to tell you how Trumpian that is. If Rove can get Trump to actually listen to him — which he probably won’t, since Trump won’t listen to anyone — it could be a formidable partnership.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove won elections through the clever manipulation of the media with lots of talk about “the math,” the supposed inevitability of Republican victory and his own inflated mystique. In that regard, he mirrors Parscale, the high-living Trump campaign manager who has snookered the press into believing he’s a high-tech genius possessed of secret knowledge and endless resources. Both of them managed to slip their clients into a first term with a dubious Electoral College victory and a popular-vote defeat. It remains to be seen if Parscale can replicate Rove’s second-term victory in 2004, in which Bush won the popular vote, but almost lost the Electoral College.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush’s Brain and Trump’s ego are going to ride Brad Parscale’s Death Star into November. Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy flight.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8/20</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/foxs-whitewash-trumps-qanon-endorsement-helps-explain-how-it-happened-first</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Trump’s Wednesday endorsement of the deranged and dangerous QAnon movement as people who “love this country” thrilled its supporters while horrifying observers, who pointed out that his validation of an extremist ideology linked to violent acts would swell its ranks. But during his first interview following those remarks on Thursday night, the president faced no questions about his praise for unhinged pro-Trump conspiracy theorists who claim that he is on the verge of unraveling a global pedophile ring of Satan-worshipping Democrats and celebrities. As Fox News host Sean Hannity provided the president with his typical mix of sycophancy and softballs over the course of the half-hour phoner, Trump’s embrace of QAnon never came up.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity’s decision to ignore the story put a capstone on Fox’s lackadaisical response to the president’s praise for advocates of a bizarre conspiracy theory that the FBI has termed a domestic terror threat. Fox News political analyst Karl Rove garnered press attention on Wednesday for calling QAnon supporters “nuts and kooks” and saying the president “ought to disavow them” on Special Report, and that program ran a segment on the “conspiracy theory” the following day. But none of the network’s highly rated prime-time hosts have mentioned Trump’s remarks at all, and by Thursday morning, Fox & Friends was decontextualizing part of the president’s comment as an anodyne reference to his administration “saving the world.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump backing the QAnon movement seems like a natural fit -- the president is a notorious conspiracy theorist who finds it nearly impossible to disavow even his most reprehensible supporters. But his praise for the group can’t be separated from Fox’s unwillingness to try to establish guard rails for the Republican Party by denouncing it. Trump relies on Fox for news and information, and its coverage constantly shapes his worldview. If Fox’s hosts had condemned the QAnon movement in the years since it first emerged, it’s hard to imagine that the president would be praising it today -- or that it would have metastasized through the GOP to the extent that it has.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Fox has largely kept discussions of the QAnon movement and its violent and unhinged ideology off its airwaves, even as its spread within the Republican Party has ensured that the network has repeatedly ended up promoting its supporters. I noted last week, after one of its adherents received the GOP congressional nod for a blood-red district, that QAnon has been referenced on only eight broadcasts on the network’s weekday evening programming over the previous two years -- almost all passing references that failed to describe the conspiracy theory’s dangers. The network’s on-air talent have alternately denied knowing anything about the movement and played footsie with it, engaging with its followers on social media, downplaying its extremism, and even praising aspects of it on Fox shows. Meanwhile, the network’s executives hired a prominent QAnon-supporting influencer to host a cooking show on Fox’s streaming service. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We know what it looks like when Fox tries to destroy the credibility of a movement with its audience, and that isn’t it. Fox hosts and personalities highlighted the Black Lives Matter movement during 288 weekday evening broadcasts over the same two-year span, building on racist and unhinged smears the network has deployed against its supporters since its founding. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent months, as the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor drove new attention to Black Lives Matter’s campaign against racial injustice and police brutality, Fox hosts redoubled their efforts to delegitimize it. Network star Tucker Carlson, perhaps the Fox host with the most influence on Trump right now, turned his program into a nightly assault on the group. He called it a “totalitarian political movement” and denounced Republican leaders who expressed support for it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump got the message. He repeatedly lashed out at Black Lives Matter this summer, at times in direct response to segments he was watching about it on Fox. The president was particularly aggrieved by an anti-police chant that members of a Minnesota-based Black Lives Matter group used during a march in 2015 -- one that Fox has highlighted dozens of times in the years since. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Fox had devoted even a fraction of the venomous demonization it launched at Black Lives Matter activists to QAnon conspiracy theorists, the network could have warned off its millions of viewers -- including the president -- from the movement. But Fox has not chosen that path, which would require trying to curb the excesses of the radicalized Republicans whose anti-Democratic fervor powers the network’s ratings. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, Fox sold out its viewers to a cult. The longer the network held its fire, the more vulnerable its audience was to the movement’s entreaties, and the harder it became to pry Trump supporters away from its conspiracy theories. Now QAnon’s ranks have swelled, its supporters have effectively become a key GOP constituency, dozens are running for Congress, and at least one will likely be elected to the House in the fall. With the president himself signing on as a validator, it may be too late to keep QAnon away from the levers of power.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">QAnon may garner criticism here and there from some at Fox who, like Rove, find the spectacle of the president cozying up to “kooks” too much to bear. But I doubt very much that the network as a whole will engage in the full-spectrum denunciation needed to curtail QAnon’s growth. Instead, the days to come will likely bring a range of responses from Fox personalities, from ignoring the movement, to downplaying its importance and extremism, to condemning its critics for attacking Trump supporters. The press will be hammered for covering the story. Some network figures will claim that the QAnon movement makes some good points, perhaps even outing themselves as full-fledged supporters. Others will rely on whataboutism, with the president’s defenders pushing back against reporting on QAnon by demanding to know why the media isn’t asking Democrats to condemn antifa or Black Lives Matter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox is a Republican propaganda outlet that is deeply devoted to Trump. As long as that party and its leader are standing by the QAnon cult, the network won’t dare to stand up to it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">made 2018 player list</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/11/dark-money-group-one-nation-2018/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove-linked ‘dark money’ group raised, spent big ahead of 2018 midterms</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Nation, a “dark money” group that primarily backs Senate Republicans, saw its revenue spike last year ahead of 2018 midterm elections where the GOP picked up two seats in the upper chamber. The 501(c)(4) nonprofit hauled in $58 million last year, more than triple the $17 million it received in 2017. Read more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1Nation, a “dark money” group that primarily backs Senate Republicans, saw its revenue spike last year ahead of 2018 midterm elections where the GOP picked up two seats in the upper chamber. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofit hauled in $58 million last year — more than triple the $17 million it received in 2017, new tax returns obtained by OpenSecrets show. The group was bolstered by a $10 million contribution from a single anonymous donor. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Masterminded by former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, One Nation launched in 2015 and effectively replaced the once-dominant Crossroads GPS. One Nation spent more than it raised in 2018, totaling $64.1 million, as it funneled money to other conservative groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, One Nation gave $18.6 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP-allied super PAC that shares staff and offices with the nonprofit. The super PAC spent $95 million to back Senate Republicans ahead of the midterms, shelling out more than $20 million in ads attacking then-Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) alone. That’s after One Nation laid the groundwork earlier in the year and in 2017 with ads hammering McCaskill’s record and boosting her successful Republican challenger. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Nation is already targeting 2020 Senate races, running ads to support vulnerable Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). One Nation is applauding Ernst over her bill to end the electric vehicle tax credit, claiming the tax break “subsidizes wealthy car buyers but hurts farmers and jobs.” In Maine, One Nation’s ads portray Collins as a fighter for those with diabetes and promote her bill to reduce insulin prices. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, liberal dark money groups have been hammering Ernst and Collins with their own ads attacking their records on healthcare. The amount spent by dark money groups on these “issue ads” — which don’t directly advocate for or against the senators’ elections — is not required to be reported to the Federal Election Commission unless an election is near. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Nation has shelled out nearly $2.6 million on Google and Facebook ads since the platforms began tracking political ads in May 2018. Among its ads aired this year are those attacking Medicare for All, the healthcare proposal championed by some 2020 Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, One Nation is not required to disclose its donors’ identities. Tax returns from the American Petroleum Institute reveal that the trade group gave $50,000 to One Nation last year, but the vast majority of its funding remains a mystery.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another $5.4 million came from Crossroads GPS, which raised $7 million last year according to tax filings. That’s an uptick from the meager $75,000 Crossroads GPS raised in 2017, but the group still appears to be just an arm of the larger One Nation at this point. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Nation gave out a total of $3.8 million in grants to other conservative nonprofits, including anti-abortion groups such as Susan B. Anthony List and National Right to Life, last year. Pushing for more restrictive abortion laws across the states, both groups spent millions of dollars to influence state legislatures and drafted model legislation for anti-abortion lawmakers to follow, the Center for Public Integrity reported. Susan B. Anthony List, which received $1.6 million, has become more active on the federal level, spending $2.4 million during the 2018 midterms to back congressional Republicans. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Rove-linked dark money group also gave $250,000 to Citizens for a Working America, a little-known dark money group based in Virginia. The group has been an active donor to several super PACs in recent years, bankrolling several groups that launched multimillion-dollar ad campaigns in federal and state elections. Some of the groups, such as Hometown Freedom Action Network, are closely tied to the dark money group. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Nation itself also funded groups running expensive ad campaigns in competitive races. It coughed up $1 million to American Economic Freedom Alliance, a D.C.-based dark money group that spent more than $330,000 running ads in Indiana boosting former Rep. Luke Messer’s (R-Ind.) failed Senate bid last year. The alliance also gave $600,000 to pro-Messer super PAC Hoosiers for Conservative Values, records show. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2x?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/why-karl-rove-uses-dirty-tricks-they-work/370811/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why Karl Rove Uses Dirty Tricks: They Work</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove reportedly hinted that Hillary Clinton may have brain damage from a fall—then quickly backed away. His history suggests it's a calculated maneuver.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PETER BEINART</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MAY 13, 2014</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove now denies reports that he said Hillary Clinton may have brain damage. “I never used that phrase,” he said on Fox News. True. What Rove said was, “Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she’s wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what’s up with that.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, Rove didn’t say Hillary Clinton has brain damage. He hinted it, thus giving himself deniability while ensuring that the slur lingers in the public mind. Which is what he’s been doing his entire career.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2004, Joshua Green reported in The Atlantic that Texas insiders accused Rove of spreading allegations that his rival, Republican consultant John Weaver, had made a pass at a young man at a GOP event. Green also quoted an aide to a 1994 state Supreme Court candidate in Alabama who accused Rove of having quietly insinuated that his boss was a pedophile. Similarly, when George W. Bush ran for governor of Texas that same year, rumors swirled about the sexual orientation of incumbent Ann Richards. “No one ever traced the character assassination to Rove,” wrote Bush biographer Louis Dubose, “Yet no one doubts that Rove was behind it.” Most famously, when Bush was fighting for his life against a surging John McCain in South Carolina in 2000, fliers, emails, and push polls accused McCain of having fathered an African-American “love child” (he had actually adopted a girl from Bangladesh) and of suffering from mental instability as a result of his incarceration in Vietnam. McCain staffers, and McCain’s daughter, have accused Rove of orchestrating the rumors; Rove denies any involvement.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why does Rove allegedly smear his opponents this way? Because it works. Consider the Clinton “brain damage” story. Right now, the press is slamming Rove for his vicious, outlandish comments. But they’re also talking about Clinton’s health problems as secretary of state, disrupting the story she wants to tell about her time in Foggy Bottom in her forthcoming memoir.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Assuming she runs for president, the press will investigate Clinton’s medical history and age no matter what Rove says. But he’s now planted questions—about the December 2012 blood clot that forced her into the hospital, and about her mental condition as she ages—that will lurk in journalists’ minds as they do that reporting. If she has a moment of Rick Perry-like forgetfulness sometime between now and the fall of 2016, Rove’s comments make it more likely that voters will wonder whether she’s still with it mentally. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political consultants create narratives about the candidates they want to defeat: Al Gore fudged the truth; John Kerry was an elitist; Barack Obama wasn’t fully American; Mitt Romney didn’t care about ordinary people. Once you kindle public suspicion about your opponent, it’s easy to keep throwing logs on the fire. On the eve of the memoir that will launch Hillary’s pre-campaign public relations blitz, Karl Rove is starting that process now, despite having no evidence for the storyline he wants to convey.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For better—but mostly for worse—campaign 2016 is already here</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/citizens-united-just-15-groups-account-75-percent-dark-money-spent-us-elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just 15 groups were responsible for more than 75 percent of dark money political spending from 2010 to 2016, and together poured more than $600 million—out of a total of $800+ million—into campaigns in the wake of the landmark Citizens United case, according to a new analysis from Issue One, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for stricter campaign finance rules.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Dark money groups hold enormous sway over what issues are, and are not, debated in Congress and on the campaign trail," the report explains. "But the donors behind these groups rarely discuss their motivations for bankrolling these efforts, leaving the public in the dark about who funds these increasingly prominent and potent organizations."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition the new Dark Money Illuminated (pdf) report, which identifies about 400 donors and organizations bankrolling these 15 secretive groups, the researchers also developed profiles for each dark money group and an "extensive, first-of-its-kind database containing nearly 1,200 transactions, each supported by primary source documents."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Right now, the dark money groups and anonymous donors behind them that endlessly bombard Americans with television ads spouting half-truths and outright lies do a disservice to voters," said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. "In the internet age, every American should be able to know where the money is being spent and who is giving it in near real-time."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, overall political spending since 2010 is in the many billions of dollars, but the Issue One report specifically focuses on groups that have been allowed to conceal their donor lists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the groups examined by Issue One have supported both Democrat and Republican candidates at various levels of politics, the only ones to break $100 million primarily back the GOP. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce—which gets substantial funding from big banks, pharmaceutical companies, and polluting industries—spent $130 million, and Crossroads GPS, co-founded by former White House strategist Karl Rove, spent $110 million. The third highest spender was the right-wing billionaire Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Check out the full list:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Whether you're a conservative Republican or a progressive Democrat, policy ideas and candidates' positions should be promoted by organizations who are proud to be engaged in our public arena, not secretive front groups designed to deceive voters, hide donors, and deploy deceptive tactics," declared Tim Roemer, a former congressman and U.S. ambassador who co-chairs Issue One's ReFormers Caucus, a coalition of former politicians.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emphasizing that "transparency and disclosure are the building blocks necessary to empower citizens with information to fully and accurately assess the source and credibility of the groups trying to influence their votes," the report includes five recommendations for doing so:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Increase donor disclosure, such as including the names of a dark money group's top donors on television, radio, print, or digital advertisements;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pass the Honest Ads Act, legislation before Congress that would create new disclosure standards for paid online political advertising modeled on the nationwide requirements for paid ads that appear on television or radio;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Develop new, national reporting rules to prevent donors from hiding their identities while bankrolling election-related advertisements;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Encourage or even require groups to great CREATE? special accounts that are exclusively for political expenses; and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Restructure and strenthen "the feckless, and deadlocked-by-design," Federal Elections Commission (FEC) "to ensure there is an effective cop on the beat to stop groups from breaking the rules that already exist.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other critics of political spending by wealthy Americans and corporations have argued for far more radical reforms, including the reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling and a transition to publicly-funded elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled that a pair of dark money groups, including the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, must disclose top donors to California's attorney general—though, as the Los Angeles Times noted, state officials "are required to keep the information confidential unless ordered by a court."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last month, in a case that ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) brought against Crossroads GPS, a federal judge issued a ruling that invalidated an FEC regulation enabling dark money donors to avoid disclosure. As Common Dreams reported, Center for Responsive Politics' Robert Maguire said that if the ruling stands, it "could fundamentally change the role dark money plays in elections (if it has a role at all)."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">yes mag</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">About an hour and a couple of drinks later, B. was still unconvinced and I was still deeply frustrated. It seemed to me that he was funneling energy that could be used to fight for the reality he wanted into defending his choice to not do anything. He was weaving a narrative about how powerless we were, one that echoed Rove’s infamous quote perfectly: “We’re history’s actors, and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reality-based?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">he sort of disappeared after big gps$ failed in ___election, and as bush rep tanked? but legacy lives on:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CU dark money to state (supreme ct) judge elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">andy kroll</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/judicial-elections-citizens-united-karl-rove/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An important moment in the life of millennials came during the 2004 election, when Karl Rove and the right-wing collaborated to put nearly a dozen initiatives on the ballot to outlaw same-sex marriage during the 2004 election. It mobilized 10 million evangelicals to the polls and ushered in a wave of Republicans. Churches across the country railed against the immorality of homosexuality, bumping up against pop-culture icons coming out of the closet and anti-bullying campaigns aimed at teens.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White evangelicals have coopted mainstream Christianity, and an entire generation has never lived in an world without hypocritical pastors worshiping the almighty dollar and begging the poor to send Jesus their retirement funds.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">random 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">l Rove, whose pro-Republican political groups have been repeatedly called out for spreading falsehoods, used his latest Wall Street Journal column to claim that President Obama will damage his campaign by pointing out the many falsehoods that Mitt Romney tells.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the Journal, Rove claimed that "alleging that Mr. Romney is a serial deceiver -- as the president and top advisers are doing -- is a hard sell. Mr. Romney came across last week as practical and thoughtful, authentic and a straight shooter."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's not a surprise that Rove would join his colleagues in the right-wing media in trying to deflect attention from the many falsehoods Romney uttered in the debate and elsewhere. After all, conservative political figures have fully embraced a post-truth political landscape. But it takes particular nerve for Rove to suggest that Democrats should ignore falsehoods lobbed at them by Republicans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the groups Rove co-founded, Crossroads GPS, has put out 10 ads that the independent fact-checker PolitiFact has rated false, mostly false, or pants-on-fire false. By contrast, PolitiFact has rated only three of the Crossroads GPS ads as true or mostly true.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among Crossroads GPS' false charges: a claim that under the Affordable Care Act, "millions could lose their health care coverage and be forced into a government pool"; a claim that the health care law raised "18 different taxes" on people making less than $250,000; and a claim that unions don't have to comply with the Affordable Care Act, a claim that PolitiFact rated "pants on fire" false.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another group Rove co-founded, American Crossroads, has not fared any better. PolitiFact has rated nine American Crossroads ads false or mostly false. It has not rated a single one true or mostly true.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among American Crossroads' false charges: a claim that 85 percent of recent college graduates are moving back in with their parents; a claim that Bill Clinton opposes Obama's "Buffet Rule" to ensure that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share in taxes; and a claim that Obama broke his promise about the effect that his stimulus plan would have on the unemployment rate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/11/karl-rove-embodies-post-truth-politics-and-jour/190548</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gop CA conv called rove dumbest alive</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2015</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove’s Group Funneled Dark Money To Help Elect GOP Senate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secret money flowed through multiple groups to aid Tillis, McConnell.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Crossroads GPS, the politically active nonprofit co-founded by Republican political strategist Karl Rove, raised $69 million and made large contributions to other groups in 2014, according to a tax form disclosed on Tuesday.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group’s fundraising was far down from the $180 million it raised in 2012, when it spent large sums to oppose President Barack Obama’s re-election. In 2014, the conservative nonprofit reported to the Federal Election Commission that it spent $26 million on express electoral efforts to defeat congressional Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aside from its own direct spending on elections, Crossroads GPS directed $13.6 million to other groups aiding Republican campaigns in 2014. None of the original donors aiding these Republican campaigns through Crossroads GPS are required to be disclosed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This included entirely funding the nonprofit group Carolina Rising with a $4.8 million donation. As reported by the Center for Responsive Politics, Carolina Rising spent all of its money promoting Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in his successful campaign to unseat Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carolina Rising was not the only group involved in the North Carolina Senate race funded by Crossroads GPS. The American Future Fund received $2 million from Crossroads GPS and spent $420,000 on advertisements touting North Carolina Libertarian Party candidate Sean Haugh’s support for legalizing marijuana and his anti-war stance. The ads were designed to appeal to young voters that Republicans wanted to steer away from voting for Hagan.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Haugh was not pleased with the intervention, although his enmity was slightly misplaced. “While I appreciate the support, I now have a whole new reason to despise Koch brothers & their dark money,” he tweeted after the ads went up. American Future Fund had previously taken money from the political network operated by the billionaire Koch brothers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another $390,000 from Crossroads GPS went to the nonprofit group Kentucky Opportunity Coalition. This group spent all its money to support and promote Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in his successful 2014 re-election campaign against both his tea party-backed primary opponent, Matt Bevin (now governor-elect of Kentucky), and his general election opposition from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is not at all surprising that Crossroads GPS would fund Kentucky Opportunity Coalition. They are both run by Steven Law, a former aide to McConnell, andconnections between the two groups were apparent while the campaign was underway.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossroads GPS also sent $5.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobby and a major political force in the Republican Party. Other contributions included $900,000 to National Right to Life; $125,000 to the National Rifle Association; $50,000 to Ethics & Public Policy Center; $50,000 to The John Hay Initiative; and $40,000 to Center for Individual Freedom.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Crossroads GPS is not required to disclose its donors, it did reveal the number and size of each contribution it received. The nonprofit group raised $69 million from 68 listed donations. Eighty percent of those funds came from just 11 donations each of $1 million or more. The largest two donations to the group were $20.6 million and $14.5 million.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More: Crossroads Gps Dark Money 2014 Election Elections 2014 Thom Tillis</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cycle=2012&cmte=American+Crossroads%2FCrossroads+GPS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Total Spent on 2012 Federal Elections: $176,429,025</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">99.2% spent in general election</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General Election Spending - How Successful Were They?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0 spent supporting 0 candidates who won</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$11,511,228 spent opposing 8 candidates who lost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$175,065,090 total spent in general election on 32 candidates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Success rate:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by candidate:<span style="white-space:pre"> </span> 25.0%</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by money:<span style="white-space:pre"> </span> 6.6%</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Affiliates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Crossroads (SuperPAC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Independent Expenditures:<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$104,746,670</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossroads GPS (501c)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Independent Expenditures:<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$70,968,744</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossroads Generation (SuperPAC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Independent Expenditures:<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$500,415</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossroads GPS (501c)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Electioneering Communications:<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$213,196</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obama, Barack<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$100,312,096<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$100,098,900<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Romney, Mitt<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$13,663,226<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$13,663,226<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kaine, Tim<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>VA<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$11,287,887<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$11,287,887<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Berkley, Shelley<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NV<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$7,000,123<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$7,000,123<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brown, Sherrod<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>OH<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$6,363,705<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$6,363,705<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Baldwin, Tammy<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>WI<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$6,036,996<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$6,036,996<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tester, Jon<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>MT<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$5,046,641<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$5,046,641<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donnelly, Joe<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>IN<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$4,714,122<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$4,714,122<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nelson, Bill<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>FL<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$4,022,605<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$4,022,605<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heitkamp, Heidi<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>ND<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,760,691<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,760,691<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Horsford, Steven<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NV<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,487,308<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,487,308<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bustos, Cheri<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>IL<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,373,094<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,373,094<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thompson, Tommy G<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>WI<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,345,194<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,345,194<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Slaughter, Louise M<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,227,057<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,227,057<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boswell, Leonard<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>IA<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,079,311<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,079,311<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">King, Angus<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>I<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>ME<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,014,094<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,014,094<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kerrey, Bob<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NE<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$992,170<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$992,170<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bishop, Timothy H<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$858,064<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$858,064<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heinrich, Martin<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NM<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$657,911<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$657,911<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Warren, Elizabeth<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>MA<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$637,043<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$637,043<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hernandez, John<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>CA<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$592,026<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$592,026<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Enyart, William<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>IL<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$586,102<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$586,102<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mullen, Brendan<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>IN<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$564,166<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$564,166<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McDowell, Gary J<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>MI<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$485,864<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$485,864<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wilson, Heather A<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NM<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$440,134<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$440,134<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schreibman, Julian D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$438,880<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$438,880<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Davis, Jack<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$375,216<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$375,216<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vilsack, Christie<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>IA<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$358,688<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$358,688<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hochul, Kathleen<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$313,449<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$313,449<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ruiz, Raul<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>CA<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$312,337<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$312,337<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Berg, Rick<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>ND<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$280,266<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$280,266<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Lost<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maloney, Sean Patrick<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$264,054<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$264,054<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marshall, Kate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NV<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$174,839<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$174,839<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barber, Ron<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>AZ<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$132,336<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$33,084<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$99,252<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amodei, Mark<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NV<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$87,031<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$87,031<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kelly, Jesse<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>AZ<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$66,168<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$66,168<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McCaskill, Claire<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>D<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>MO<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Senate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$64,097<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$64,097<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Winner<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corwin, Jane<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>R<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>NY<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>House<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,700<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,700<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sued by public citizen 3/16</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rough chapter:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rovesum</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9/10/2013 6pp 8/24/15 9pp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">adopted father gay?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">read Milton Friedman, national review, collected Goldwater memorabilia as kid;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> avoids Viet Nam service.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove, Reed and Norquist all Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute alums ( 1970 Rove at 17 organizing in Illinois)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1970 stole letterhead from Dixon Chicago HQ and made thousand flyers "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing" to homeless. Dixon embarrassed but wins.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Drops out of college to work for Lee Atwater, who ran his campaign to run College Republicans. Spring 1973 Rove and Atwater crisscross country in a Ford Pinto, campaigning for national chair CR; years later took another shot at college, one course on McKinley (myth of front porch campaign, actually innovative and aggressive mass mailings, demographic targeting (104 Architect). [went back to college at some point and wrote on: p8 Hanna handler of McKinley hero (most expensive campaign to date) 9 [porch campaign a myth?]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate at CRNC 1981 (Karl Rove got Reed lucrative Enron consulting gig circa 2000 though he had worked for them in 1997]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">campaign manager (vs Dolan). Stole college republican election in 1972, Atwater his v (Bush 41 referees dispute) Mentor Segretti recruited Rove, exec dir of CR. McGovern, B-24 bomber pilot in WWII labelled "left-wing peacenik". Staffer to Bush 41 . then Chair of RNC. Rove introduces Atwater to Bush Sr. Trained CR in rat-fucking tour (dumpster diving, identity theft etc). Rove delivers car keys to Dubya 11/73, infatuated ‘77-9 raises money for Bush 41, babysits Dubya when drinking). Marries socialite 1976, divorced three years later. 1981 mom suicide; now remarried, but she cries when ultra-competitive Rove savages her ball into the weeds in croquet.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Built Texas GOP from scratch (never really needed one as the Democrats were conservative?); had his own Xerox machine in the Secretary of State's office to generate mailing lists [vs Viguerie feat]. Got beat 1982, but refines to target suburbs. Hightower ran for Land Commissioner; </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ex Democrat Phil Gramm 1984 win senate (with wife Wendy, pretty much tee'd up the 2008 crash?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1986 "bugging" of rove's office.Rampton FBI investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gov Clement win;1988: Rove hits on "tort reform" as winning issue for Republicans. His candidates win five out of six open seats on the Texas Supreme Court.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1989 Reed and Pat Robertson meet, Moral Majority defunct, so Christian Coalition; Rampton FBI investigation of Tx dems incl Hightower.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">attack two prongs: direct mail and federal prosecutions (Hightower in Texas Rove tipped reporters on subpoenas, in Hightower's case the day he declared to run again; moreover, prosecuted for common strategies that his clients and he himself used, e.g., seeking donations on off hours of official trip. FBI agent Greg Rampton set up shop, twelve agents and his own xerox machine; found nothing (later transferred to ID, fabricated evidence at Ruby Ridge that wrecked prosecution). Investigated bug (Rove planted himself?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1994 B2 vs Ann Richards (push poll on lesbians?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000 South Carolina primary, on heels of NH loss? surrogates claim McCain collaborated in Viet Nam prison and had illegitimate black daughter (actually adopted Bangladeshi). </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Modus Operandi: attack their strength: e.g., Richards tolerant, thus lesbian; attacks often via surrogates; Georgia's Saxby Chambliss beat triple amputee Max Cleland who had fought in Viet Nam, winning decorations (negative ad pictured him next to Saddam and Bin Laden). Chambliss had several stories about why he had not served, mostly relating to a knee football injury, whereas he actually requested and got five student deferments (sein huffpo), and is rated by Golf Digest as #2 golfer in Senate and 33rd in DC, which presumably offers stiff competition (he skipped the intelligence and armed services committee hearings on why WMD intel so wrong in order to play with Tiger Woods).[not finding dir conn to rove and roger stone; tom perdue] though $880K leadership pacs. Cleland attack provided proof of concept for Kerry Swift Boat? Defeated Cleland severe depression for couple years, back at Walter Reed. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000: Rove is required to sell his Enron stock before Bush takes office. Reportedly still holds between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of shares when appointed.;Rove held $250K Enron stock 2001, along with several oil companies while energy policy was being made (rfk2 (p 97).also pharma ; Task Force?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2002: Ran WHIG to sell Gulf War:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[White House Iraq Gp rove heads, to mkt war, w scooter, pressed for war resolution 9/02, 2 mos before off-year election(page 91) (1st time in 100 years gop pres got midterm gains.] In 2002 and 2003 Rove chaired meetings of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), an internal White House working group established in August 2002, eight months prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. WHIG was charged with developing a strategy "for publicizing the White House's assertion that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the United States."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Plame July 2003:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[JULY 14, 2003: Novak's syndicated column reveals publicly the classified information that, according to "two senior administration officials," Plame is an undercover CIA operative.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> AUGUST 21, 2003: Wilson, who has already blamed Rove for the leak, says at a public forum in Seattle that he would like "to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Newsweek, ... There now is clear-cut evidence that Rove was involved in--if not the chief architect of--the actions that led to the outing of Plame/Wilson. If he's not in severe legal trouble, he ought to be in political peril." --David Corn, July 10, 2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On April 5th, 2003? CA Gov Davis rejected raising customer rates to cope as Cheney and FERC head Hebert [pt Arthur ?] And Gray criticized the Feds for not looking at fraud or allowing price caps. Karl Rove worked with Cheney and Ed Gillespie (current member of secret task force representing Enron, former RNC, now Enron lobbyist , later B2 WH counselor) . Strategy was to blame Davis for biggest bankruptcy in US history for refusing to raise rates. Also Abramoff scandal broke around this time, so needed to divert attention from picture of him with Bush. Enron funneled money through Abramoff pal Norquist to pay for Gillespie hit ads. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 Bush credits the "architect" Rove with win, promoted to deputy Chief of Staff, senior advisor (policy and politics blend in unprecedented way?). 2004 scoffed at "reality based community...who believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernable reality" (Suskind).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 Organized bloggers to attack Rather </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FEBRUARY 2005: Rove is promoted to assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff, and senior adviser. hillary office? blur politics and government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> KR moved office to next to oval. campaign staffers moved out into infrastructure 213</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2/2005 Rove applauds Swift Boat at CPAC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AG FIRINGS:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Allegations were that some of the U.S. Attorneys were dismissed for failing to instigate investigations damaging to Democratic politicians, or for failing to more aggressively pursue voter-fraud cases</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The reasons for the dismissal of each individual U.S. Attorney were unclear. Two suggested motivations were that the administration wanted to make room for U.S. Attorneys who would be more sympathetic to the administration's political agenda, and the administration wanted to advance the careers of promising conservatives....</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By mid-September 2007, nine senior staff of the Department of Justice associated with the controversy had resigned, including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eight AG fired, Rove protege Tim Griffin got the job in Arkansas; House jud comm found Rove involved in firings July 2008 contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoena; caved and he and Mier testified; he said his role peripheral, but email proved otherwise. Thus it was discovered that Rove and many White House staffers were using RNC email, illegal. (Jennifer Farley told Abramoff not to use official White House email because it would limit what favors could be dispensed). 500 Rove emails sent to parody site, then forwarded to Palast. Five million may have been lost or trashed, in 2009 estimate rose to 22 million.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JUDICIAL</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove did well with unsexy tort reform, Philip Morris helped, so funded B2 in return (Boss R)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Longstanding strategy to take over state legislatures (in part because if we have polarysis in Congress/Federal level, state level is a end-run); this is important for permanent majority, since allows gerrymandering.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Rove also very keen to get control of state level Supreme Courts why? Just another end-run? need them to bless if not redistricting, but no doubt voter disenfranchisement. Tort reform</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove seems to have been active in Alabama, only one of seven states that elect judges, (Neal Cohen APCO, tort reform, PM) starting in 1994, by 2006 the most expensive judicial? campaigns in country, more than $50 million since 1993. (previous wins in Texas {Delay?], later in Wisconsin?[Walker, John Doe] Used Federalist Society and U of Alabama Law to smear Kennedy as pedophile (a juvenile and family court judge, he started foundations to prevent abuse). Also accused him of big tort reform abuse giveaways (GOP took over state supreme court and appellate)[Glynn Wilson].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama Gov Siegelman sent to jail for corruption (went after abramoff on Indian casinos) Bill Canary (state CoC) is Rove's best friend? his wife prosecuted ("the girls" will take care of him). DJ Simpson changed sides? house burned, car run off road? Riley, Scanlon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aug 2007 resigned to spend more time with the family.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Writes for Weekly St'd and WSJ but do not point out his ties ("defacto head of Rep Party" (vanity fair via-----MMatters). Fox status, hired 2008 temporarily benched after fight over calling Ohio (Romney stalled on concession based on Rove's polling? Bart Simpson writes 100 times]. Rehired 1/13. [Ohio voting machines?][on air meltdown?]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CROSSROADS GPS 501(c)4</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">srcwtch:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, also known as Crossroads GPS, is a right-wing political group created in June 2010 by GOP political operatives and "advised" by Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to support Republican political candidates. It is often described as a "dark money" group because it is organized as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and does not disclose its donors, despite spending millions to influence political campaigns. As of September 2012, it has spent $50 million on ads influencing the 2012 elections. [1] It is the nonprofit wing of American Crossroads, a Super PAC [501(c)3] that can accept unlimited contributions but must disclose its donors. Both groups share the same leadership.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Supposedly independent, but staffed by former RNC (Gillespie) and Chamber of Commerce (Stephen Law); Forti, Dubke Black Rock Group (Americans for Job Security, 60 Plus).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the wake of 2010 CU, American Crossroads is game-changer. in 2010 GPS filed with IRS, with suggested percentages for projected activity, no relation to actual. 9/10 Max Baucus asks IRS to investigate. Almost all its money, over 90 percent, comes from a small number of uber-rich (Reese-Jones, Perenchio, Bob Perry [Swift Boat], Rowling, BW Hughes). targeted Tester (ad pulled by cable system for gross distortion on non-existent ? EPA farm dust regulations), Baldwin, Warren (ad falsely claims she supported Occupy violence).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">--</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a confidential 2010 filing, Crossroads GPS — the dark money group that spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election — told the Internal Revenue Service that its efforts would focus on public education, research and shaping legislation and policy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group's application for recognition as a social welfare nonprofit acknowledged that it would spend money to influence elections, but said "any such activity will be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organization's primary purpose."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2010 (GPS at least 15 million dollars) coordinate w/ Kochs, but broke with them in 2011 over debt ceiling?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2012 Rove knocks off Romney rivals one at a time? (eg Gingrich up by 13 points ends up 4th?!) One of the biggest spenders (started in 2011 bashing Obama, e.g., Solyndra).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GPS spent $70 million ($175 including related orgs) won nine, lost 21, blamed on "sub-optimal candidates." IRS accidentally sent returns before decision on status made.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Organizations co-founded by the GOP’s most effective fundraiser spent more than $175 million only to see President Barack Obama win a second term and Democrats actually gain seats in the U.S. Senate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to a Center for Public Integrity review of spending records, Rove’s super PAC, American Crossroads, went 3-10 during the 2012 election cycle, while Crossroads GPS, its nonprofit counterpart, went 7-17. The two groups, which were both active in a handful of contests, had a combined 9-21 record.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2013 fight w/ TP no more crazies after 2012 drubbing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Crossroads came out swinging early-and hard-in the Kentucky Senate race, bashing actress Ashley Judd for even thinking about challenging Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Analysis: Rove comes out of the fratboy anything-to-win tradition (BUT NEVER REALLY IN THE CLUB, NOT LIKED, SO LIT out for the territories in Texas, attracted to B 43 fratboy, good ol boy, fighter jock] which reifies into get-and-keep-power-at-any-cost using all means possible, and that includes co-opting and corrupting government entities designed to protect the public good (eg FBI invents crime). An aspect of this is reward your friends (with political power and money) and damage your enemies as quickly and publicly as possible to intimidate others (hence Plame). In some ways not innovative at all, Atwater dirty tricks and Viguerie direct mail (big data later?). His big contribution was harnessing Christian right (pals with Reed way before Jesus visited him in payphone booth outside a pub?]; </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also end-runs: patient cultivation of state judges (changes the DNA/operating system of state, eg voter suppression/redistricting) [Texas and DeLay took the lead on this? Demographic Latino wave hit there sooner?].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GPS and ilk will dominate for foreseeable future since ATI kept CU intact. IRS cowed. FEC neutered; GPS has supplanted and eclipsed the GOP in terms of funds thus influence?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reed said evangelicals a record 27% of electorate, 78% went for Romney. Before, could deliver as reliable GOTV foot soldiers, plus energized by wedge issues no one really cares about? (Reed teflon, reinvents another organization, newest Faith and Freedom, playing native Americans for Abramoff?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iron Triangle with Hughes and Allbaugh (enforcer); What relation to Cheney? Rove book whitewash esp Gulf 2; obvious factual incorrectness and myth-making (911 happened on Clinton's watch) picked up by Liz in abortive senate run? Attacked Starr and FedSoc?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5/15</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pulls a fast one; http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/05/roves-new-group-isnt-new-and-that-could-be-the-point/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove and his colleagues at the dark money behemoth Crossroads GPS have a “new” 501(c)(4), and according to reports, they’re going to use it in much the same way they have used GPS itself — as a conduit for anonymous, political money in the 2016 elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the group, One Nation, isn’t “new,” and that’s probably the point.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virginia state incorporation records show that the operatives who run Crossroads simply took over an existing 501(c)(4), and they likely did so because the group had the one thing that has been elusive to Crossroads since its founding in 2010: An approved application for tax exemption from the IRS....</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What has four arms and loves attack ads? Karl Rove’s growing network of outside interest groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s right. The right-wing mastermind has doubled his outside spending empire. Or, as National Journal put it: “Karl Rove's Crossroads Empire Adds a New Senate Defense Arm... A new secret-money nonprofit branch will focus on defending the GOP majority.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, we only know two things for certain. One -- this monster of a network is already spending millions to influence the 2016 elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And two -- if our MVPs are going to be able to fight off even more Rove-linked attacks, they’re going to need us.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Can you chip in $5 or $10 right now?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove’s groups spent $300 million in the last presidential election and $47.8 million in last year’s midterm elections. Apparently that wasn’t enough, so he has grown his reach -- and one of the new Rove groups is already spending $2 million on ads.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Beginning in August 2003, it was suspected—and widely rumored—that Karl Rove, Assistant to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor toGeorge W. Bush, was responsible for outing Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA agent.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 11, 2006, Robert Novak, "a conservative columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, admitted publicly for the first time that Mr Rove, a close adviser to George Bush, had been one of his sources for a story outing CIA agent Valerie Plame," David Fickling reported in the Guardian Unlimited (UK). "Publicly naming a CIA operative is a criminal offence in the US."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See Novak's July 12, 2006, "My Role in the Valerie Plame Leak Story" at Human Events Online.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Merry Indictment?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald "met with the grand jury investigating the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson for several hours Friday [December 16, 2005]. Short of a last minute intervention by Rove's attorney, Fitzgerald is expected to ask a grand jury-possibly as soon as next week--to indict Rove for making false statements to the FBI and Justice Department investigators in October 2003, lawyers close to the case say," Jason Leopold reported in the December 17, 2005, CounterPunch.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove Gave Bush Personal Assurances He Was Not the Leaker</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the fall of 2003, Rove "personally assured" Bush "that he had not disclosed to anyone in the press" that Valerie Plame, wife of an Bush administration criticJoseph Wilson, was a covert CIA operative, "according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors," Murray Waas, wrote in the National Journal, October 7, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Truth or Consequences</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time, White House spokesman Scott McClellan "was so adamant in his denials that he told reporters the president himself knew that Rove wasn't involved in the leak.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"'How does (Bush) know that?' a reporter asked.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"'I'm not going to get into conversations that the president has with advisers or staff,' McClellan replied." [1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If Rove purposely misled the president, the FBI, or the White House press secretary, a reasonable prosecutor might construe such acts as 'overt acts in furtherance of a criminal plan'," Waas said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Denials Collapse</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In October 2004, Rove testified before a federal grand jury regarding the leaking of national security information to a news reporter in an attempt to silence Wilson.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House denials collapsed July 3, 2005,' "amid the disclosure of Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper's conversations in July 2003 about Wilson's wife with Rove and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff." Rove was identified as the source of the leak in notes provided to Newsweek by Timemagazine White House reporter Cooper. [2][3][4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove Testified 4th Time</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald is wrapping up his "investigation into whether Rove, Libby or other White House aides divulged Plame's identity in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act ... [and] examining whether aides mishandled classified information, made false statements or obstructed justice."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove was to testify to the grand jury for the fourth time. "Prosecutors told him they no longer can assure that he'll escape indictment. ... Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, declined to comment [October 7, 2005,] on the specifics of the discussion with Bush. But he confirmed that his client maintains — then and now — he did not engage in an effort to disclose Plame's identity." [5][6]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also see:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: Republican Reaction</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents [hide] </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 CIA Probe & Leak Investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 Quotes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 It's Rove!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.1 External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 The Rovian "Frog-March"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5 The White House Press Corps</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.1 Silent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.1.1 External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.2 Press Silent No More</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: Chain of Events</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7 Related SourceWatch Resources</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8 External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8.1 Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: External Links 2003 and 2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8.2 Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: External Links 2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8.3 Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: External Links 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CIA Probe & Leak Investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John W. Dean, "The Bush Administration Adopts a Worse-than-Nixonian Tactic: The Deadly Serious Crime Of Naming CIA Operatives," TruthOut, August 15, 2003.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Analysis: Two Ways to Look at Rove Controversy. Legal and Political Questions Hang Over Karl Rove's Involvement in the Leak Investigation," ABC News, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Richard Simon and Richard B. Schmitt, "Democrats Take Aim at Rove in Leak Case. Some lawmakers call for action to be taken against Bush's aide. The White House says little," Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tom Brune, "Dems urge Rove to clear air on leak," New York Newsday, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark A.R. Kleinman, "The Plame Game: No, it's not all about the Intelligence Identities Protection Act," markarkleinman.com, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Byrne, "Senate Democratic leaders call for White House Rove inquiry," The Raw Story, July 13, 2005: "Democratic Senate leaders Harry Reid (D-NV), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote a letter to President Bush today calling for an internal investigation into whether his adviser Karl Rove leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim VandeHei, "GOP rallies to defend Rove as Democrats step up call for ouster," Seattle Times, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Froomkin, "Won't Defend? Then Attack!" Washington Post, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Corn, "Rove Did Leak Classified Information," The Nation, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Democrats will file Resolution of Inquiry on outed agent," The Raw Story, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim VandeHei and Carol Leonnig, "Time Reporter Testifies About Contacts With Rove. Bush Cautions Against Prejudging Leak Case," Washington Post, July 14, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Garrett M. Graff, "Plame Leak: Rove Rumors Continue," Washington Post, July 14, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ron Fournier, "GOP Nervously Eyeing Rove and CIA Probe," Associated Press, July 14, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Diaz, "Coleman may lead defense of Rove," Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 14, 2005: "Republican officials hinted Wednesday that Sen. Norm Coleman could play a leading role in responding to Democrats' attacks against White House aide Karl Rove. ... The Minnesota Republican downplayed a report in the Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, that he has been designated by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to be one of Rove's 'principal defenders in Congress.'"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John W. Dean, "It Appears That Karl Rove Is In Serious Trouble," FindLaw's Writ, July 15, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Solomon, "Rove said to testify in CIA leak case," Associated Press (kentucky.com), October 6, 2005: "Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor, said that it was unusual for a witness to be called back to the grand jury four times and that the prosecutor's legally required warning to Rove before this next appearance is 'an ominous sign' for the presidential adviser."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carol D. Leonnig and Jim VandeHei, "Rove to Testify Again in Grand Jury's CIA Leak Probe. Prosecutor's Warning That Bush Adviser Could Be Indicted Suggests New Information May Have Emerged," Washington Post, October 7, 2005: "A source close to Rove said Bush's chief political adviser and his legal team are now genuinely concerned he could face charges."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Johnston, "Prosecutor in Leak Inquiry Orders Rove to Return Again," New York Times, October 7, 2005: "Mr. Fitzgerald's conversations with lawyers in recent days have cast a cloud over the inquiry, sweeping away the confidence once expressed by a number of officials and their lawyers who have said that he was unlikely to find any illegality" and "Several lawyers who have been involved in the case expressed surprise and concern over the recent turn of events and are increasingly convinced that Mr. Fitzgerald could be poised to charge someone with a crime for discussing with journalists the identity of an undercover C.I.A. officer."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Murray Waas, "Rove Assured Bush He Was Not Leaker," National Journal, October 7, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Conason, "Rove's nightmare. If Karl Rove told federal officials in 2003 he wasn't involved in outing Valerie Plame, he could face charges," Salon, October 7, 2005. Preview or subscription required.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"CIA Leak: Karl Rove and the Case of the Missing E-mail," Newsweek, October 17, 2005 issue; posted October 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Quotes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"George Bush promised that he would fire the leaker. Now that Karl Rove has been revealed as the leaker, what will Bush do? Obviously, he'll ask Karl Rove what to do." --Paul Krassner, The Huffington Post, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If this was a Democratic White House, we'd have Congressional hearings in a Second." --Tim Russert, NBC's Today Show, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's disappointing that once again, so many Democrat leaders are taking their political cues from the far-left, Moveon wing of the party. The bottom line is Karl Rove was discouraging a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise and the Democrats are engaging in blatant partisan political attacks." --RNC Chairman Kenneth B. Mehlman, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Let me remind you, the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war. And how America was misled into that war.... enough is known to surmise that the leaks of Rove and others deputized by him amounted to an angry act of retaliation against someone who had the temerity to challenge the President of the United States when he was striving to find some plausible reason for invading Iraq.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The role of Rove and associates added up to a small incident in very large scandal: the effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough tojustify a war." --Daniel Shorr, NPR, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The GOP's propaganda technicians are filling in some of the details of the mirror universe they're trying to create -- the one in which Turdblossom is the noble whistleblower and Joe Wilson and his wife are the sleazy insiders spreading lies and disinformation. And since everything has to be ass backwards in the Republican reality, we're now being told that Wilson, not Rove, is the 'leaker' and Dick Cheney, not Valerie Plame, the dedicated public servant damaged by the leak." --Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World, July 13, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Mr. Rove also understands, better than anyone else in American politics, the power of smear tactics. Attacks on someone who contradicts the official line don't have to be true, or even plausible, to undermine that person's effectiveness. All they have to do is get a lot of media play, and they'll create the sense that there must be something wrong with the guy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"And now we know just how far he was willing to go with these smear tactics: as part of the effort to discredit Joseph Wilson IV, Mr. Rove leaked the fact that Mr. Wilson's wife worked for the C.I.A. I don't know whether Mr. Rove can be convicted of a crime, but there's no question that he damaged national security for partisan advantage. If a Democrat had done that, Republicans would call it treason." --Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 15, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's Rove!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Reporter Michael Isikoff has obtained a copy of an email that Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper sent his bureau chief, Michael Duffy, on July 11, 2003--three days before conservative columnist Bob Novak first published the leak that outed CIA officer Valerie Wilson/Plame. In that email, Cooper wrote that he had spoken to Rove on 'double super secret background' and that Rove had told him that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's 'wife...apparently works at the agency on wmd issues.' 'Agency' means CIA. Read the full Newsweek piece here, ... There now is clear-cut evidence that Rove was involved in--if not the chief architect of--the actions that led to the outing of Plame/Wilson. If he's not in severe legal trouble, he ought to be in political peril." --David Corn, July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Isikoff, "Matt Cooper's Source. What Karl Rove told Time magazine's reporter," Newsweek, July 18, 2005 (issue); posted July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Bush aide Rove was Time reporter's source-Newsweek," Reuters, July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Corn, "It's Here! Newsweek Does Nail Rove," davidcorn.com, July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"July 3, 2005: Rove’s Lawyer Lies To Bloomberg," Think Progress, July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Laura Rozen, "Newsweek's Mike Isikoff has gotten ahold of Time's Matt Cooper's emails revealing Rove as his original source on Joe Wilson's wife working for the CIA," War and Peace, July 10, 2005: "I find it fascinating that Rove was not only campaigning to discredit Wilson, but that he was pushing so hard to legitimate the bogus Iraq-Niger uranium information, just days before the administration capitulated and said it shouldn't have used that language in Bush's SOTU." See Bush's 16 words.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Isikoff, "The Rove Factor? Time magazine talked to Bush's guru for Plame story," Newsweek, July 11, 2005 (edition) (accessed July 3, 2005): "The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper's sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. ... Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article. It is unclear, however, what passed between Cooper and Rove."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Karl Rove named as a source of Plame leak," wikinews, July 3, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Howard Fineman, "Rove at War. He rose using tactics his foes are turning against him. But never bet against Karl Rove," Newsweek, July 17, 2005 (issue).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Rovian "Frog-March"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawrence O'Donnell, "The One Very Good Reason Karl Rove Might Be Indicted," The Huffington Post, July 7, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Corn, "Time for Rove Withdrawal?" The Huffington Report, July 8, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Corn, "New Explosive Rove Revelation To Come? Time to Frog-March?" davidcorn.com, July 9, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Aravosis, "It's irrelevant if Karl Rove broke that one particular law" and "Something's not quite right about the Rove story," AMERICAblog, July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Ailes, "Frogmarch to the Right," rogerailes.blogspot.com, July 10, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adam Entous, "Democrats urge Bush to fire Rove in leak scandal," Reuters, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Timothy Noah, "Turd Blossom Must Go. There is no moral case for keeping Karl Rove on the government payroll," Slate, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jan Frel, "Is Karl Rove Screwed, or Not?" AlterNet, July 11, 2005: "For once, Bush or Rove or somebody in this administration may get an uppercut that keeps them down on the mat, or at least out for an eight-count."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark Memmmott, "Dems call for action against Rove after leak report," USA Today, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tim Grieve, War Room: "Why Karl Rove must go" and "The shifting stories of Karl Rove," Salon, July 11, 2005. Requires subscription or preview.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steven Thomma, "Rove disclosure puts Bush in bind. He had promised to punish source of leak," Detroit Free Press, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">War Room: "Rove, Plame and the firing offense," Salon, July 12, 2005. Requires subscription or preview.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byron York, "Lawyer: Cooper 'Burned' Karl Rove. Rove’s attorney talks to NRO," National Review, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Press Release, July 13, 2005: "All Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) today joined Congressman John F. Tierney (D-MA), the only New England Member of HPSCI, to call on President George Bush to revoke White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove’s security clearances and access to classified information. In a letter to the President, all nine Democrats on the Committee urged him to take immediate action."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jane Roh, "Can Bush Survive Without Rove?" Fox News, July 14, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Froomkin "A Compelling Story" Washington Post, March 31, 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tom McGuire "The Ashcroft Recusal", Just One Minute, June 8, 2006.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The White House Press Corps</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Silent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 6, 2005, Think Progress asked "Why Is The White House Press Corps Ignoring Rove?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan took questions from the press today aboard Air Force One. No one asked him about Karl Rove’s role in outing undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Yesterday, McClellan held a press conference and no one asked him about Karl Rove’s role in outing undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In fact, no member of the White House press corps has asked McClellan about Rove’s role in the Plame outing since his lawyer admitted on Saturday that Rove was one of Matt Cooper’s sources. (And there are plenty of good questions to ask.)"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Day 6: WH Press Corps Silent on Rove," Think Progress, July 8, 2005: "The White House just released the transcript of today’s Gaggle. ... For the fourth straight time since his lawyer admitted that Rove was one of Matt Cooper’s sources, no member of the White House press corps asked a question about Rove’s role. (And there are plenty of questions to ask.) ... A major figure in the White House is deeply entangled in a major scandal. Why is the White House press corps ignoring the story?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Why Is The White House Press Corps Ignoring Rove?" Think Progress, July 6, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Press Silent No More</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Evan Derkacz, "Red Rove-r, red rover is that the press coming over?" with video courtesy Crooks and Liars and full transcript of White House gaggle from Think Progress, AlterNet blog, July 11, 2005: "In today's press conference with W.H. spokesman Scotty McClellan, the press came alive. Will their pens be so sparkly?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Aravosis, "Holy crap, MSM beating up on Karl Rove at the WH daily briefing today," AMERICAblog, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Billmon, "Cat Got His Tongue"; "Silent Running"; and "Vouching for Karl," Whiskey Bar, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Hedges, "White House mum, critics howl over Rove's role in CIA leak. President's spokesman had repeatedly said the political aide wasn't involved," Houston Chronicle, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tim Grieve, "On Rove, Scott McClellan is suddenly silent", Salon, July 11, 2005. Requires subscription or preview.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Corn, "White House Stonewalls on Rove Scandal," The Nation, July 11, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Milbank, "Spokesman Holds Tongue During Intense Grilling," Washington Post, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pete Yost, "White House Won't Comment on Rove, Leak," Associated Press, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mike Allen and Dan Balz, "Bush Aide Deflects Questions On Rove. Democrats Seek Firing in Leak Case," Washington Post, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tim Russert, "Russert: If this was a Democratic White House, we'd have Congressional hearings in a Second," NBC's Today Show, July 12, 2005; video links (WMP and QT) posted on Crooks and Liars website.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brian, "'Rove This, Rove That' In Briefing Room," MediaBistro.com, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Garrett M. Graff, Fishbowl DC: "'Blood in the Water'"; "Anticipation"; and "Did He or Didn't He?" MediaBistro.com, July 12, 2005: "Today was another small moment for history too: The fourth row of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House today held both Fishbowl and Eric Brewer of BTC News, making this the first day that both of the independent bloggers credentialed to the White House have been present at a briefing at the same time." (Blog report follows.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Press Batters McClellan on Rove/Plame Link," Editors & Publishers, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Richard W. Stevenson, "White House Silence on Rove's Role in Leak Enters 2nd Day," Washington Post, July 12, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Another day: Press savages White House over Rove, again," The Raw Story, July 12, 2005: "From the White House press briefing -- full text here (with video link). Yesterday's press briefing, at which a reporter declared the failure to answer questions 'ridiculous.'"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Rove evasions," Boston Globe, July 13, 2005: " ... on Monday, when McClellan ducked 61 press questions -- including 'Did Karl Rove commit a crime?' -- saying that he was clamming up because of an 'ongoing investigation.' Never mind that McClellan had no such qualms more than a year ago when he defended Rove stoutly despite the fact that the investigation by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was ongoing then."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Harry Shearer, "The Nub," The Huffington Post, July 13, 2005: "Despite the admirable cloaking of all this in the garment of 'the American public,' the White House press corp's anger is based on one thing: Scott McClellan lied to the Whitte House press corps. The President, the Vice President, the Army and Navy football teams, the Secretary of State--all of them can lie to any or all of the planets in the solar system, and hey, that's politics. But, stand at that podium, and lie to those people, and let them eventually find out about it, and, brother, you got trouble."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Murray Waas,, "Front-Page Fronts. The Times and the Post are publicizing Rove's version of events. But is his story true?" The American Prospect, July 15, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Murray Waas Exclusive: Plame Game Over?," American Prospect, April 6, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Murray Waas, "Why Novak Called Rove," National Journal, December 16, 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Froomkin, "A Compelling Story," White House Watch Blog/Washington Post, March 31, 2006.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Murray Waas, "Cheney's Admissions to the CIA Leak Prosecutor and FBI", Dec. 23, 2008.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: Chain of Events</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related SourceWatch Resources</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush administration flip flops</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush administration leaks</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush administration scandals</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush regime</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush regime delusions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican 'culture of corruption'</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trial of Scooter Libby</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: External Links 2003 and 2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: External Links 2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: External Links 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Categories: Scandals Treasongate Politics Politicians</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six Questions for James Moore on Karl Rove’s Political Prosecutions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Scott Horton</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six Questions (with a nod to Ken Silverstein) for James Moore, Author of Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential and The Architect: Karl Rove and the Dream of Absolute Power.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Texas Republican campaign manager I know, who cut his teeth working in the Lone Star State, and often with Karl Rove, told me that Rove owed his reputation to two things: “direct-mail marketing and an uncanny ability to manipulate federal prosecutors into going after the officeholder his client was trying to unseat.” Texans are familiar with the story of Rove and the curious FBI agent who always did his bidding. And now, as a controversy surrounding Karl Rove and his covert dealings with federal prosecutors takes center stage in Washington and raises concerns in prosecutions around the country—from Milwaukee to Montgomery—we have asked the Emmy Award-winning journalist James Moore to look back to Rove’s involvement in a series of campaigns in Texas in 1990 and the federal investigations and prosecutions that moved seamlessly in the background. What clues do they offer in the current scandal?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Rove was hired to run the campaign of Rick Perry, the current governor, for the powerful Texas office of Commissioner of Agriculture, then held by Democrat Jim Hightower. Shortly thereafter, it was clear that a major FBI investigation had been launched into the workings of the Texas Agriculture Department (TDA), focusing on Hightower and his senior lieutenants, who had been pursuing a populist, anti-corporate agriculture and pro-small-farmer agenda. The investigation resulted in the prosecution of Bob Boyd, a longtime friend and consultant to Hightower, who was at the time under contract with the TDA. The charges against Boyd accused him of soliciting farmers, during official state inspection trips, for donations to a PAC that would help Hightower’s hand-picked successor become the next Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. The charges against Boyd were hyped aggressively in the media. Did you think the charges against him were very strong? Had there been a track record of this sort of prosecution in the past?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The charges against Boyd were weak and without real merit. He was doing something that almost every state employee in a significant role had been doing since the dawn of the Republic of Texas. It is still happening today. Often, when state employees or consultants working for a specific agency are sent on regular trips, they use their off-hours for political purposes. In Boyd’s case, he thought he could curry favor with Hightower and secure future contracts by raising money for him. Hightower and his assistant agriculture commissioner, Mike Moeller, and his top assistant Pete McRae, were unaware of what Boyd was doing. When Moeller found out, he ordered it stopped. Moeller, who was next in line for the TDA job as a Democratic candidate, and McRae, ended up being indicted under specious claims that they had offered Boyd contracts in return for fundraising, which was not ever proved in court. The inescapable irony of all this is that senior staffers who worked for Rick Perry when he became governor, and Perry himself, continued the practice of political fundraising while on state business trips. It is, in fact, a practice that was happening about 1000 times a day back then and continues to this day. President Bush and other presidents travel on government business and then turn to political endeavors in their after hours. And, ultimately, nobody was better at making this happen than Karl Rove.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. A key role was played in the TDA investigation by FBI Special Agent Greg Rampton. Rove first met FBI Agent Rampton during the investigation into the “bugging” of Rove’s office back in 1986. How would you describe the relationship between Rampton and Rove? Texas Land Commissioner Gary Mauro stated, “I don’t think there’s any doubt that he [Rampton] and Karl had lunch on a regular basis and had telephone calls on a regular basis. I think it was fairly common knowledge and they did it in public so it wasn’t like they were that secretive.” Is there any other evidence exists to suggest a special relationship between Greg Rampton and Karl Rove?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We only know that Rove and Rampton met during the bugging investigation. However, we also know that Rove has always been very good at utilizing the political inclinations of his contacts while also turning government institutions into political tools. Rampton made no secret of the fact that he thought all politicians, especially Democrats, were on the take. Karl would have found a way to make use of this fervent conviction. A few years prior to the bugging, Rampton had been a lead investigator out of the Austin FBI office in a legislative sting operation called BriLab. Since Democrats held almost every office at that time, they were his targets. By the time Rampton was called in to investigate the bugging of Rove’s office, Rove knew Rampton by reputation. Karl would have certainly offered any information he had to assist Rampton in his goal of bringing down politicians, who, conveniently for Rove at that time, were Democrats. Both Rampton and Rove have suggested they only “think” they may have had contact with each other during that time period, which is patent nonsense.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. You mention that Greg Rampton [the FBI agent in charge of investigating the Texas Department of Agriculture] was viewed by the Democrats as a “mad dog.” That term implies instability, but also independence. Is there any evidence to suggest that Karl Rove was involved in guiding Rampton?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rampton’s “mad dog” reputation came from his determination to launch investigations without justification simply to see what he might turn up. During the political ascent of Karl Rove in Texas, Greg Rampton had every statewide officeholder (all Democrats) under investigation. To suggest there was no connection between him and Rove is to ignore the juxtaposition of events. The day that Agriculture Commission Jim Hightower was announcing his reelection campaign, Rampton made a point of visiting his office to deliver subpoenas. That was a bigger news story that day than the announcement of reelection. Rampton spent 9 months inside of Democratic Land Commissioner Gary Mauro’s office, copying phone records and files, and came away with nothing incriminating. When other individuals in various state agencies were about to get subpoenaed, Rove knew about it before anyone else in town and called reporters, including me, to tip us off in advance. A reporter for one of the major newspapers confirmed to me that all of his stories about the investigation of Hightower’s office were prompted by tips from Rove, who consistently knew what direction the investigation was heading before such knowledge became public. When Rove was asked under oath by a Texas State Senate committee if he knew Greg Rampton, Rove responded with a locution that was to later be made famous by President Clinton. “Ah, Senator, it depends on what your definition of ‘know’ is,” Rove said. Initially, Rove said he only had heard of Rampton and then he said they may have had a phone conversation and, eventually, he conceded it’s possible they had met somewhere. Rampton has displayed the same sort of inclination for playing with facts as does Rove. Rampton was a key investigator for the FBI at the Ruby Ridge Shootout in Idaho who admitted on the stand that he had tampered with evidence. His testimony ultimately was the key reason the federal prosecution lost its case.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Are there any other routes by which Rove might have caught wind (in November 1989) of the FBI investigation, and upcoming subpoenas of the Texas Department of Agriculture other than through his relationship with Greg Rampton?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obviously, I looked for these. The U.S. Attorney in charge of the district that included Austin at that time was a Reagan appointee, though he had a solid non-political career as a person with respect for the law. It should be noted that in the wake of all the Rampton investigations of Democrats, a federal judge wrote a letter to the Justice Department under George H.W. Bush requesting that Rampton be reassigned. He was later sent to Idaho, though his supervisor at the FBI during those years told me that Rampton had requested the move to be closer to family. There is also the possibility Rove might have developed a relationship with a federal court clerk, though that seems unlikely, as well. In short, there simply were not that many Republican appointees or officeholders for Rove to acquire information from during those years and it is unlikely that a US Attorney, regardless of political inclinations, is going to risk violating federal law by providing Rove such knowledge.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. In 1990, the media failed to take notice of Rove’s extraordinary relationship with the FBI agents and prosecutors handling the investigation into the Department of Agriculture. What did they miss? Did they take prosecutorial independence for granted?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not to make excuses for reporters, but the case against Karl was a bit easier to prove in hindsight. Also, Rove was a new kind of animal, one that Texas political reporters had never seen as a Republican political operative. We did not believe it was possible for the things to be happening that we suspected were happening. Further, finding proof or corroboration of our suspicions was difficult, if not impossible. Prosecutorial independence was assumed and we thought that if the case were weak, it would be tossed out. Reporters also needed Rove as much as he needed them. He was responsible for a lot of frontpage and top-of-the-newscast stories for a number of reporters, and the quid pro quo became a toxic formula that killed fairness. I recall standing on Rove’s back porch the day he held his news conference on the bugging. I laughed at how silly and obvious it all appeared that he had set things up. But then I realized I had no proof and he had me. There was no way I could avoid reporting what I had just seen. I laced my story with skepticism, but I was still compelled to report Rove’s allegations against the Democrats and their defensive denials.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6. Assuming that Karl Rove did in fact crystallize the accusations that prompted the FBI investigation and press for an investigation of the TDA, do the events surrounding the Texas 1990 election seem similar to the allegations coming out of New Mexico, Wisconsin and Alabama, and particularly the case of Governor Don Siegelman in Alabama?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove does not view the institutions of government as anything other than instruments of political power. He has always used government to expand political power bases and punish enemies. His association with Rampton was the beginning of this practice. I think the various US attorney replacements, the recent testimony of the former Surgeon General, and all of the other incidents are abundant evidence of this practice. Rove will use any institution at his disposal. In Alabama, he tried to destroy the reputation of Supreme Court Justice Mark Kennedy by using the University of Alabama Law School to spread rumors that Kennedy (who had been photographed holding hands with children in a group he had helped) was a pedophile. Kennedy’s opponent was a Rove client.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Rove can certainly be expected to have used federal prosecutorial powers to attack former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman; especially since the governor was contesting the election results. There is a striking parallel between the Siegelman case and what happened in Texas involving Jim Hightower’s staffers. They were prosecuted for an accepted, conventional approach to political fundraising, which Rove’s many clients still employ. In the Siegelman prosecution, he is accused of providing an office in state government to Robert Scrushy, a health care CEO and a Siegelman political donor. Of course, most US ambassadors are ultimately major political donors to presidents, as are often heads of agencies, boards, etc. This has been the way our government has worked for a long, long time. The difference for Governor Siegelman is that he was indicted and convicted of bribery and his case has all the earmarks of political prosecution. A raft of other charges against him were dropped, which is also what happened in the Texas case involving the Hightower staffers. There is a predictable pathology to all of Rove’s political moves. You simply have to know what to look for . . .</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Get the detail on how Rove made his name and rose to the White House in James Moore’s two books:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- The Architect: Karl Rove and the Dream of Absolute Power</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://harpers.org/blog/2007/07/it-started-in-texas-karl-roves-political-prosecutions/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I doubt this was Karl Rove's intention, but with his new book, he demonstrates how the Bush White House got away with lying. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's the back story. In September 2003, a furor erupted when the news emerged that the Justice Department had begun an investigation of the leak that outed undercover CIA case officer Valerie Plame Wilson. Several months earlier -- while her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was slamming the Bush administration for having misled the nation into the Iraq war with a phony WMD argument -- two administration sources had told conservative columnist Robert Novak that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Novak published this information, and her cover was blown. (Valerie Wilson had managed a CIA unit that had been searching for evidence of WMDs in Iraq.) Under federal law, it is a felony for a government official to knowingly reveal information about a clandestine CIA officer. Consequently, the Justice Department investigation was a serious threat to Novak's sources and the White House.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With that firestorm underway, the Bush White House looked to douse some of the flames. At a dramatic press conference, White House press secretary Scott McClellan declared that Karl Rove, Bush's top strategist, was "not involved" in the Plame leak: "I've spoken with Karl about this matter. . . .There's no truth to the suggestion that he was." McClellan remarked, "If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." The next day, Bush echoed McClellan's comments about Rove: "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information." Bush added, "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Rove had indeed leaked the information about Valerie Plame Wilson, and her employment at the CIA had been classified. He had shared the information with Novak and Matt Cooper, then of Time magazine. (Novak's other source was Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state.) So the White House had peddled false information. As McClellan noted in his memoir, that was because Rove had lied to him. And Rove stood by silently when McClellan subsequently told the world that Rove hadn't played any part in this caper. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But what happened when Bush found out about all this lying? Not much, according to Rove's book, which is due out on Tuesday. In the book, Rove recounts that at some point he told the president he had been one of Novak's sources for the Plame leak. How did Bush react?According to Rove, "Bush sounded a little annoyed." And that was it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The president was not angry that Rove had lied to McClellan, that McClellan had passed that lie to the public, or that he (Bush) had publicly confirmed the lie. Moreover, Bush did not take any action against Rove, as he had promised to do with whoever had been behind the CIA leak. Nor did he do anything to correct the false information McClellan had placed on the public record. Bush allowed Rove's lie to stand. It was only because of the work of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that Rove's role as a leaker eventually became known. And Fitzgerald nearly indicted Rove, but Rove managed to escape (unlike Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who was convicted of lying to FBI agents and a grand jury).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What's the moral of this tale? A top White House official can lie about a national security investigation with impunity and then go on to make money writing a book showing that the president didn't care about this lie. Don't share this lesson with your children.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, one of the key points in Rove's book is that Bush did not "lie us" into the Iraq war by making false assertions about Iraq's WMD capabilities. Yet as I detailed at MotherJones.com, in the run-up to that war, Bush, Cheney and Co. repeatedly overstated the iffy intelligence, declaring that there was no doubt when the available intelligence was loaded with uncertainty. In several instances, they went further and just made up stuff. All told, they held a reckless disregard for accuracy and waged a willful campaign of misrepresentation. These lies were far more consequential than anything the White House said about the CIA leak case. But it's not a coincidence that in both instances Bush and Rove didn't tell the truth. The widely accepted view of the Iraq war, as Rove now acknowledges, is that Bush greased the way with lies and mischaracterizations. But no book written by Rove, who has already proven he's willing to lie to protect himself, will change that. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can follow David Corn's postings and media appearances via Twitter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wiki</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove's career in U.S. President George W. Bush's administration began shortly after thefirst inauguration of George W. Bush in January 2001. He was appointed Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President, which nicknamed him "Boy Genius" and "Turd Blossom".[1] Rove was reassigned from his policy development role to one focusing on strategic and tactical planning in April 2006, the same month that Joshua Bolten replaced Andrew Card as White House Chief of Staff.[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents [hide] </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 White House Iraq Group</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 2004 George W. Bush Presidential Re-election Campaign</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 Valerie Plame affair</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.1 Scott McClellan's book</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.2 2006 Congressional elections and beyond</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.3 Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.4 E-mail scandal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.5 Resignation from the White House</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Iraq Group[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2002 and 2003 Rove chaired meetings of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), an internal White House working group established in August 2002, eight months prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. WHIG was charged with developing a strategy "for publicizing the White House's assertion that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the United States."[3] WHIG's existence and membership was first identified in a Washington Post article by Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus on August 10, 2003; members of WHIG included Bush’s Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Rice, her deputy Stephen Hadley, Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby, legislative liaison Nicholas E. Calio, and communication strategists Mary Matalin, Karen Hughes, and James R. Wilkinson.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Quoting one unnamed WHIG member, the Washington Post explained that the task force's mission was to “educate the public” about the threat posed by Saddam and (in the reporters' words) "[to] set strategy for each stage of the confrontation with Baghdad". Rove's "strategic communications" task force within WHIG helped write and coordinate speeches by senior Bush administration officials, emphasizing Iraq's purported nuclear threat.[4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The White House Iraq Group was “little known” until a subpoena for its notes, email, and attendance records was issued by CIA leak investigator Patrick Fitzgerald in January 2004.[3][5]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 George W. Bush Presidential Re-election Campaign[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush publicly thanked Rove and called him "the architect" in his 2004 victory speech, after defeating John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.[6]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Valerie Plame affair[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Plame affair</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On August 29, 2003, retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV claimed that Rove leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee,[7] in retaliation for Wilson's op-ed in The New York Times in which he criticized the Bush administration's citation of the yellowcake documents among the justifications for the War in Iraq enumerated in Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In late August 2006 it became known that Richard L. Armitage was responsible for the leak. The investigation led to felony charges being filed againstLewis "Scooter" Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice. Eventually, Libby was found guilty by a jury.[8]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On June 13, 2006, prosecutors determined there was no cause to charge Rove with any wrongdoing.[9] Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated previously that "I can tell you that the substantial bulk of the work of this investigation is concluded."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 13, 2006, Plame unsuccessfully sued Cheney, Rove, Libby, and others, accusing them of conspiring to destroy her career.[10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 6, 2006, Washington Post columnist David Broder called on the more vocal members of the media who were publicizing Rove's involvement to apologize to him.[11]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott McClellan's book[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott McClellan claims in his book What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, published in the spring of 2008 by Public Affairs Books, that the statements he made in 2003 about Rove's lack of involvement in the Valerie Plame affair were untrue, and that he had been encouraged to repeat such untruths. His book has been widely disputed, however, with many key members of McClellan's own staff telling a completely different story. Former CNN commentator Robert Novak has questioned if McClelland wrote the book himself. It was also revealed that the publisher was seeking a negative book to increase sales.[12][13]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006 Congressional elections and beyond[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On October 24, 2006, two weeks before the Congressional election, in an interview with National Public Radio's Robert Siegel, Rove insisted that his insider polling data forecast Republican retention of both houses:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SIEGEL: I'm looking at all the same polls that you are looking at.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ROVE: No, you are not. I'm looking at 68 polls a week for candidates for the US House and US Senate, and Governor and you may be looking at 4-5 public polls a week that talk attitudes nationally.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SIEGEL: I don't want to have you to call races...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ROVE: I'm looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to the math.[14]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the election the Democrats won both houses of Congress. The White House Bulletin, published by Bulletin News, cited rumors of Rove's impending departure from the White House staff: "'Karl represents the old style and he's got to go if the Democrats are going to believe Bush's talk of getting along', said a key Bush advisor."[15] However, while allowing that many Republican members of Congress are "resentful of the way he and the White House conducted the losing campaign", the New York Times also stated that, "White House officials say President Bush has every intention of keeping Mr. Rove on through the rest of his term."[16]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prior to the election, Rove voiced impatience with the notion that his own reputation is on the ballot. He told the Washington Post, "I understand some will see the election as a judgment on me, but the fact of the matter is that, look what has been set in motion: a broader, deeper, strengthened Republican Party, and with an emphasis on grass-roots neighbor-to-neighbor politics, is going to continue."[17] After the election, Rove continued to express optimism, telling the Post, "The Republican philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in 2008." Rove also told the Post that the GOP election strategy was working until the Mark Foley scandal put the Republican campaign "back on its heels". Rove added "We were on a roll, and [the Foley scandal] stopped it.... It revived all the stuff about Jack Abramoff and added to it."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Rove's analysis, 10 of the 28 House seats Republicans lost were sacrificed because of various scandals. Another six, he said, were lost because incumbents did not recognize and react quickly enough to the threat. Rove argued that, without corruption and complacency, The Democrats would have gained around a dozen seats and Republicans could have kept narrow control of the House regardless of Bush's troubles and the war.[18]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In analyzing the results of the 2006 midterm election, Rove told Time:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The profile of corruption in the exit polls was bigger than I'd expected ... Abramoff, lobbying, Foley and Haggard added to the general distaste that people have for all things Washington, and it just reached critical mass... Iraq mattered, but it was more frustration than it was an explicit call for withdrawal. If this was a get-out-now call for withdrawal, then Lamont would not have been beaten by Lieberman. Iraq does play a role, but not the critical, central role.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rove defended the role of the Republican get-out-the-vote program he helped invent. He told Time:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I see this as much more of a transient, passing thing ... [T]he Republican Party remains at its core a small-government, low-tax, limit-spending, traditional-values, strong-defense party. I see the power of the ideas, even in a tough year ... People were talking 35, 40 or more and it didn't happen. There were a number of elections which were supposed to be close and ended up not being close.[19]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He added that he has "fundamental confidence in the power of the underlying agenda of this President", and cited fighting the war on terror, tax cuts,immigration, welfare, and legal reform, reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, reducing trade barriers, restrained spending.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the January 29, 2007 issue of Newsweek, GOP activist Grover Norquist described how Rove showed up at a weekly meeting of influential D.C. conservatives early in the month, surprising attendees with his bubbly demeanor after weeks of rumors that he might be headed out. Norquist was quoted as saying "I think some people had given him up for dead, but he was good old Karl, upbeat and enthusiastic." At the meeting Rove previewed Bush's final two years in office, saying Social Security reform was likely off the table and that Iraq and the economy would be the biggest issues for 2008. "I don't know anyone who holds him personally responsible for what happened to us in the election", said a GOP national committee member, who declined to be named talking about the inner circle. "But his stature isn't quite the same." According to Newsweek, "behind the scenes, according to administration officials (anonymous in order to discuss White House matters), Rove has been laying the groundwork for Bush's State of the Union address and mulling how the GOP can regain momentum in 2008 ... Rove has been busy trying to find common ground with Dems, organizing two meetings between Bush and the Blue Dog Democrats, a coalition of conservative lawmakers who offer the White House its best chance at compromise with the new Congress. Rove also sat in on many of Bush's meetings with members of Congress in recent weeks about Iraq."[20]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Allen Weh, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House aide for Rove, asking that Iglesias be removed.[21] In 2006, Rove personally told Weh that Iglesias had been dismissed.[21] Weh was dissatisfied with Iglesias due in part to his failure to indict New Mexico State Senator Manny Aragon on fraud and conspiracy charges. After Iglesias was dismissed, his replacement, Acting U.S. Attorney Larry Gomez brought a 26 count felony indictment against Aragon. In a plea bargain, Aragon plead guilty to three felony fraud counts. Weh followed up with, "There’s nothing we’ve done that's wrong. It wasn’t that Iglesias wasn’t looking out for Republicans. He just wasn’t doing his job, period.”"[21] White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that Rove "wasn’t involved in who was going to be fired or hired".[21]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 30, 2009, after giving closed door testimony before Congress, Rove gave interviews to the New York Times and the Washington Post in which he revealed that he had suggested Timothy Griffin, his former aide, for a government post. He stated that if there was an available government post, Griffin should be hired. Griffin was subsequently given the U.S. Attorney post in Arkansas, replacing Henry Cummins, whom the Bush administration claimed had been planning on retiring. Cummins denied that.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On March 14, 2007 former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald said he believes Rove was trying to influence the selection in reaction to pressure from Rep.Dennis Hastert, then Speaker of the House and a political ally of then-Gov. George Ryan, who knew Fitzgerald was seeking someone from outside Illinois to attack political corruption.[22]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 26, 2007 Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that the committee was issuing a subpoena for Rove to appear personally before the committee and testify, following Gonzales' testimony on the U.S. Attorney dismissal controversy and other matters.[23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 30, 2008, a U.S. Congressional panel voted 20-14 to hold Rove in Contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to testify in its probe into suspected political interference at the Justice Department.[24]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On March 4, 2009 Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers agreed to testify under oath before Congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys.[25]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 14, 2009 the New York Times reported that Rove would soon be interviewed by Federal Prosecutors investigating the firings of the US Attorneys, and by investigators for the House Judiciary Committee.[26] On July 30, 2009, after two days of in-camera testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Rove again told reporters, he had played only a "peripheral role" in the firings.[27] On August 11, 2009, the New York Times reported that previously classified White House emails, showed Rove had played a more central role than he had claimed.[28] The New York Times also reported that the emails detailed a lobbying effort by Rove to have a protégé of his, Timothy Griffin, appointed US Attorney for Arkansas, after the incumbent, Bud Cummins, had been pressured to resign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">E-mail scandal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Bush White House e-mail controversy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Due to investigations into White House staffers' e-mail communication related to the controversy over the dismissal of United States Attorneys, it was discovered that many White House staff members, including Rove, had exchanged documents using Republican National Committee e-mail servers such as gwb43.com[29] and georgewbush.com[30] or personal e-mail accounts with third party providers such as BlackBerry,[31] considered a violation of thePresidential Records Act. Over 500 of Rove's emails were mistakenly sent to a parody website, who forwarded them to an investigative reporter.[32]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Resignation from the White House</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a Wall Street Journal interview published on August 13, 2007[33] Rove revealed that he would resign from the Administration effective August 31. In a statement, he said, "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family".[34]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Borger, Julian (March 9, 2004). "The Brains". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 26, 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ David Jackson and Richard Benedetto (April 20, 2006). "White House 'transition' continues". USA Today (Gannett). Retrieved 2009-08-12.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b Kelli Arena (March 6, 2004). "Air Force One records subpoenaed in CIA leak probe". CNN. Retrieved 06-12-14.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus (2001-08-10). "Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence". Washington Post.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron (August 26, 2005). "The CIA leak: Infighting, grudges, justifying a war". CNN. Retrieved 06-12-14.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "President Bush Thanks Americans in Wednesday Acceptance Speech". White House press release. 2004-11-03.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ New York Times (July 21, 2005). "Timeline of Plame affair". The New York Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Sniffen, Michael; Matt Apuzzo (2007-03-06). "Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-03-09.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ CNN (June 13, 2006). "Lawyer: Rove won't be charged in CIA leak case".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Associated Press (July 13, 2006). "Plame sues White House figures over CIA leak".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Washington Post (September 6, 2006). "Some of us media folks owe Karl Rove an apology".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Novak, Robert D. (June 2, 2008). "Parroting the Democrats". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 7, 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Ex-spokesman attacks Bush over Iraq". AlJazeera.net (Al Jazeera). 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2008-05-30.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "[[All Things Considered]] (transcript)". National Public Radio. 2006-10-24. Retrieved 2006-11-18. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "REPORT: Karl Rove May Be Leaving The White House In 'Weeks, Not Months'". Bulletin News cited on the blog of the Center for American Progress. 2006-11-17. Retrieved 2006-11-18.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Jim Rutenberg and Adam Nagourney (2006-11-19). "A Tough Road Ahead for Rove". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-11-19.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Michael Abramowitz (October 30, 2006). "Midterm Vote May Define Rove's Legacy". The Washington Post.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Peter Baker (November 12, 2006). "Rove Remains Steadfast in the Face of Criticism". The Washington Post.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Mike Allen (November 10, 2006). "The Architect Speaks". Time.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Holly Bailey (January 29, 2007 issue). "Still Busy—But Staying Out of the Spotlight". Newsweek.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b c d "Report: Rove was urged to oust U.S. attorney". MSNBC. March 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-12.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Zajac, Andrew (March 14, 2007). "Fitzgerald: Rove tried to limit choice".Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2007-03-12.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ F.B.I. Chief Challenges Gonzales’s Testimony - New York Times</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ http://www.truthout.org/article/house-panel-votes-cite-rove-for-contempt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Karl Rove, Harriet Miers To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee,Huffington Post, 4 March 2009.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ David Johnson (2009-05-14). "Prosecutors Reportedly Set to Interview Rove". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-14.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ David Johnson (2009-07-30). "Rove Says His Role in Prosecutor Firings Was Small". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-14.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Eric Lichtblau, Eric Lipton (2009-08-11). "E-Mail Reveals Rove’s Key Role in ’06 Dismissals". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-14.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Steve Holland (April 13, 2007). "Rove in new controversy over e-mails". Reuters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Rove Exhibits Part 1" (PDF). U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. pp. 50, 55, 113 etc. Retrieved 2009-08-11.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Paul Bedard (March 27, 2007). "E-mail Controversy Prompts Many Aides To Stop Usage". US News & World Report.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Karl Rove Emails Mistakenly Sent to Reporter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Mckinnon, John D. (2007-08-13). "Karl Rove to Resign At the End of August". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2007-08-13.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Steve Goldstein (2007). "Karl Rove tells WSJ he's going to resign at end of August". Wall Street Journal: MarketWatch. Retrieved 2007-08-13.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Categories: George W. Bush Administration cabinet members</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Bush White House email controversy surfaced in 2007, during the controversy involving the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Congressional requests for administration documents while investigating the dismissals of the U.S. attorneys required the Bush administration to reveal that not all internalWhite House emails were available, because they were sent via a non-government domain hosted on an email server not controlled by the federal government. Conducting governmental business in this manner is a possible violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, and the Hatch Act.[1] Over 5 million emails may have been lost or deleted.[2][3] Greg Palast claims to have come up with 500 of the Karl Rove lost emails, leading to damaging allegations.[4] In 2009, it was announced that as many as 22 million emails may have been deleted.[5]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See also: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The administration officials had been using a private Internet domain, called gwb43.com, owned by and hosted on an email server run by the Republican National Committee,[6] for various communications of unknown content or purpose. The domain name is an acronym standing for "George W. Bush, 43rd"President of the United States. The server came public when it was discovered that J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, was using a gwb43.com email address to discuss the firing of the U.S. attorney for Arkansas.[7] Communications by federal employees were also found on georgewbush.com (registered to "Bush-Cheney '04, Inc."[8]) and rnchq.org (registered to "Republican National Committee"[9]), but, unlike these two servers, gwb43.com has no Web server connected to it — it is used only for email.[10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The "gwb43.com" domain name was publicized by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), who sent a letter to Oversight and Government Reform Committee committee chairman Henry A. Waxman requesting an investigation.[11] Waxman sent a formal warning to the RNC, advising them to retain copies of all emails sent by White House employees. According to Waxman, "in some instances, White House officials were using nongovernmental accounts specifically to avoid creating a record of the communications."[12] The Republican National Committee claims to have erased the emails, supposedly making them unavailable for Congressional investigators.[13]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On April 12, 2007, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel stated that White House staffers were told to use RNC accounts to "err on the side of avoiding violations of the Hatch Act, but they should also retain that information so it can be reviewed for the Presidential Records Act," and that "some employees ... have communicated about official business on those political email accounts."[14] Stanzel also said that even though RNC policy since 2004 has been to retain all emails of White House staff with RNC accounts, the staffers had the ability to delete the email themselves.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents [hide] </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 Dead Letter Office</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 Use by senior White House staff</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 Investigations with missing emails</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.1 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.2 Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.3 CIA leak grand jury investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.4 General Services Administration</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.5 Department of Education</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 Legalities</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.1 The Hatch Act</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.2 Presidential Records Act</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5 See also</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7 External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dead Letter Office[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the "missing" emails that were sent through the RNC accounts were mistakenly addressed to[15] georgewbush.org, a parody site. Text of the misaddressed emails is available at the Dead Letter Office.[16][verification needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Use by senior White House staff[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to a former White House official, Karl Rove used RNC-hosted addresses for roughly "95 percent" of his email.[17] Rove provided email from his kr@georgewbush.com address in exhibits to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary.[18]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House deputy Jennifer Farley told Jack Abramoff not to use the official White House system "because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc."[7] Abramoff responded, "Dammit. It was sent to Susan on her RNC pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system."[19]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Investigations with missing emails[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House Oversight committee in an interim staff report, released on June 18, 2007:[20]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At least eighty-eight Republican National Committee email accounts were granted to senior Bush administration officials, not "just a handful" as previously reported by the White House spokesperson Dana Perino in March 2007. Her estimate was later revised to "about fifty." Officials with accounts included: Karl Rove, the President’s senior advisor; Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff; Ken Mehlman, the former White House Director of Political Affairs; and many other officials in the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Communications, and the Office of the Vice President.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RNC has 140,216 emails sent or received by Karl Rove. Over half of these emails (75,374) were sent to or received from individuals using official ".gov" email accounts. Other users of RNC email accounts include former Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor (66,018 emails) and Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings (35,198 emails). These email accounts were used by White House officials for official purposes, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments and policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC email accounts, the RNC has preserved no emails for 51 officials.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is evidence that the Office of White House Counsel under Alberto Gonzales may have known that White House officials were using RNC email accounts for official business, but took no action to preserve these presidential records.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The evidence obtained by the Committee indicates that White House officials used their RNC email accounts in a manner that circumvented these requirements. At this point in the investigation, it is not possible to determine precisely how many presidential records may have been destroyed by the RNC. Given the heavy reliance by White House officials on RNC email accounts, the high rank of the White House officials involved, and the large quantity of missing emails, the potential violation of the Presidential Records Act may be extensive.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">( v</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">e</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Articles</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Timeline</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Summary of attorneys</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional hearings</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">List of dismissed attorneys</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Complete list of related articles</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">G. W. Bush administration officials involved</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fred F. Fielding, White House Counsel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William K. Kelley, Deputy White House Counsel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Moschella, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brett Tolman, U.S. Attorney, District of Utah, former counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Pennsylvania, former Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys from 2004 to 2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Involved administration officials who resigned</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monica Goodling, Justice Department's liaison to the White House</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William W. Mercer, U.S. Attorney, Acting Associate Attorney General (retains position as U.S. Attorney in Montana)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sara Taylor, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul McNulty, Deputy Attorney General</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Harriet Miers, former White House Counsel (resigned prior to publicity surrounding the controversy, effective January 31, 2007)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karl Rove, White House Deputy Chief of Staff</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bradley Schlozman, Director Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; former Acting Assistant Attorney General for, and later Principal Deputy Attorney General for theCivil Rights Division; former interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">110th Congress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Patrick Leahy, Chair (D)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arlen Specter, Ranking member, former Chair (R)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chuck Schumer, Chair: Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts (D)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">110th Congress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Conyers, Chair (D)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lamar Smith, Ranking member (R)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Linda Sánchez, Chair: Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (D)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys,[21] it became known White Housestaff was using Republican National Committee (RNC) email accounts.[22] The White House stated it might have lost five million emails.[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 2, 2007, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Department of Justice (DOJ) compelling the production of email Karl Rove sent to DOJ staff, regarding evaluation and dismissal of attorneys, no matter what email account Rove used, whether White House or National Republican party accounts, or other accounts, with a deadline of May 15, 2007 for compliance. The subpoena also demanded relevant email previously produced in the Valerie Plame controversy and investigation for the CIA leak scandal (2003).[23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CIA leak grand jury investigation[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main articles: CIA leak scandal, CIA leak grand jury investigation, and Niger uranium forgeries</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson alleged that his wife's identity was covert and that members of the George W. Bush administration knowingly revealed that information as retribution for his New York Times op-ed entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," of July 6, 2003, regarding the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, while investigating the leak, found that emails were missing from the White House server.[24][25] Mother Jones wrote that this is possibly the reason the RNC changed the policy of deleting emails after 30 days to saving all email sent and received by White House officials.[25] In light of the apparent vanished emailsCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has asked to reopen the investigation.[26][27]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General Services Administration[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: General Services Administration</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is feared that the missing emails might also have an impact on congressional investigation of General Services Administration.[28]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department of Education[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: United States Department of Education</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While investigating the Reading First program CREW learned that employees use private emails to conduct official business. This might be a violation of the Federal Records Act.[29][30]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legalities[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Hatch Act[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Hatch Act of 1939</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Hatch Act prohibits the use of government resources, including email accounts, for political purposes. The Bush administration stated the RNC accounts were used to prevent violation of this Act.[2][25]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Presidential Records Act[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Presidential Records Act</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Presidential Records Act mandates the preservation of all presidential records. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Wall Street Journal contend that the missing emails may constitute a violation of this Act.[1][2][26][31]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See also[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watergate tapes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Henry H. Kennedy, Jr.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark F. Lindsay</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b Rove and Co. Broke Federal Law With Email Scam by Jonathan Stein, Mother Jones, April 12, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b c d CREW Releases New Report - Without A Trace: The Missing White House Emails and The Violations of The Presidential Records Act[1] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, April 13, 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Officials' e-mails may be missing, White House says Democrats in Congress want messages from private system for probe of U.S. attorney firings By Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "I have Karl Rove’s emails". gregpalast.com. Retrieved 2007-05-26.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ ""Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Iraq": 22 Million Lost Bush White House Emails Recovered".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Guardian. White House Says It Still Backs Gonzales. 25 March 2007.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b Washington Post. GOP Groups Told to Keep Bush Officials' E-Mails. 27 March 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "georgewbush.com Whois Record". (domaintools.com). Retrieved 2009-08-11.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "rnchq.org Whois Record". (domaintools.com). Retrieved 2009-08-11.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ http://www.gwb43.com/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ CREW asks for House Investigation into White House violations of Presidential Records Act.. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), 15 March 2007.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Hill. Waxman wants RNC, Bush campaign to preserve e-mails. 26 March 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ News from CNN</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ White House - April 12, 2007 Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ [2004.georgewbush.org]georgewbush.org</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ the Dead Letter Office</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Froomkin, Dan. The Rovian Theory washingtonpost.com 2007-03-23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Rove Exhibits Part 1" (PDF). pp. 50, 55, 113 etc. and "Rove Exhibits Part 2" (PDF). pp. 8, 10, 40, 46. and "White House Documents". United States House Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved 2009-08-11.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Financial Times. Aides to Bush told not to destroy e-mails. 26 March 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Committee Staff (2007-06-18). "The Use of RNC E-Mail Accounts by White House Officials". Interim Report: Administration Oversight, White House Use of Private E-mail Accounts (U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform). Archived from the original on 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2007-06-18.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Dismissal attorneys uncommon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans and U.S. attorneys -- then and now by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, March 19, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inserting Politics Into Justice By E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post, March 24, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Advisers' E-Mail Accounts May Have Mixed Politics and Business, White House Says By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, New York Times, April 12, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Lahey, Patrick Rove Email Subpoena United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (via Findlaw) May 2, 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2007.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Fitzgerald</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Situation Room, CNN.Transcript</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Fails To Archive E-Mail; Issue in CIA Leak Case By JOSH GERSTEIN, The New York Sun, February 2, 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b c Mother Jones: RE: Those Missing White House Emails. April 13, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: CREW Writes Patrick Fitzgerald Asking to Re-Open Rove Case in Light of Missing Emails. April 13, 2007.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ CREW Writes Patrick Fitzgerald Asking to Re-Open Rove Case in Light of Missing Emails Yahoo, April 13, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Immunity for Ex-Gonzales Aide Weighed Potential Witness's Role in Firings Cited By Paul Kane, The Washington Post, April 18, 2007; Page A08</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ CREW learns Dept. of Education staff are using private e-mails in violation of federal law CREW, May 16, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Ethics watchdog accuses Education Department of illegal e-mail use by Nick Juliano, Raw Story, May 16, 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ LEGAL WORRIES OVER MISSING EMAILS GROW by John D. McKinnon, Wall Street Journal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links[edit source | editbeta]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chronology of White House E-Mail Controversy National Security Archive, The George Washington University, April 17, 2008.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Presidential Records Act (PRA) U.S. National Archives and Records Administration - Description of the records that must be retained by the President.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political Activity (Hatch Act) Office of Special Counsel -- A discussion of restrictions on political activity by federal government employees.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Email Controversy DominoPower and OutlookPower Magazines -- A detailed, non-political technical analysis special report.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where Have All The Emails Gone? How Something As Seemingly Benign as White House Email Can Have Freaky National Security Consequences --An in-depth book based on the DominoPower and OutlookPower articles, plus a website with detailed forensic sources on the controversy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jesse Lee. House Speaker Pelosi's office writes about House Oversight Committee investigation Links to deposition transcript of Susan Ralston, describing Karl Rove's use of non-White House accounts for government purposes, and link to the Oversight Committee's report. June 18, 2007.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Admits No Back-Up Tapes for E-mail Before October 2003 National Security Archive, The George Washington University, January 16, 2008.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Categories: George W. Bush administration controversies Dismissal of United States Attorneys controversy</font></div><div>
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